


Melody of our Hearts

by rike_with_love



Category: Gintama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Hate to Love, Identity Issues, Idol Kagura, Idol Sougo, Jealousy, K-Pop - Freeform, Light Angst, Secret Relationship, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Stalking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:35:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21647656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rike_with_love/pseuds/rike_with_love
Summary: Gintama Characters in k-pop AU. Kagura is just about to debut as an idol, working under Gintoki's record label Yorozuya Entertainment. Her past isn't something she wants to think about, she just wants to move forward. Her dream is to be the biggest idol in the k-pop scene, even bigger than the ultra famous boy group Ωmega.
Relationships: Kagura/Okita Sougo
Comments: 32
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything. Sorry about it! After a long break I hope I get to write a lot more again. 
> 
> Now about this fic, I've been working on this since last May, very slowly at that. This is very near and dear to my heart. It's my very first AU, so be gentle. Also this fic is set in Korea, so the caharcters use Korean honorifics. I tried my best to learn to use the correct honorifics, but if anyone knows better than me, please let me know so I can fix my error. I don't want to offend anyone.
> 
> This is also a very slow burn, my first one finally. Now that I've triggered you with slow burn, I hope you'll look forward to my favourite story to unravel before your eyes <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama or its characters, Sorachi Hideaki does. I only own this story.

Kagura felt her rapid heartbeat, she was nervous. Excited, but nervous. The room was dark and small, but she didn't let it bother her too much. Kagura swallowed and took a deep breath. Her voice needed to be as relaxed as possible for the moment.

She felt a thin strand of vermillion hair tickling her forehead. It felt sticky against her sweaty skin. As quickly as she could Kagura swiped the hair away from her face. She hoped no-one saw her ”struggle” and focused her eyes on the microphone in front of her.

This wasn't the first time she had big headphones on and a microphone in front of her. But this was her first time doing this - she was on her favourite radio show, being interviewed like some big name. She still had a really hard time believing it herself.

I, Kagura Yato have finally made it.

”And welcome back listeners. We've got a special treat for you today. The newest idol in the k-pop scene, Gura from Yorozuya Entertainment. Welcome to our show!” the host said.

”Thank you so much! I'm honored to be here,” Kagura said. The host motioned her to lean closer to the microphone. She awkwardly leaned over. ”I'm-” she said, but stopped immediately as she saw the host and the producer in the next room both shake their heads. Dammit, she cursed to herself.

Kagura grabbed a hold of the microphone and pulled it as close as possible. ”Thank you-,” she said. The host and the producer exchanged looks and she felt her confidence crumbling down bit by bit.

”Sorry folks, we are having some technical issues here, hold on for a second,” the host said and Kagura saw in his eyes the evident frustration. She tried to tell herself that this wasn't her fault, this was just bad luck. 

It took only a few seconds for a technician to enter the room. Without saying a thing he went straight for her microphone.

”Try to say something,” the host mouthed to Kagura.

”He-hello,” she almost whispered. The host glanced at the technician who tried to work his magic on the mic as fast as possible. Kagura decided to try again. ”Hello,” she said louder, but still nothing seemed to work.

Kagura felt her cheeks burning red from embarrassment. She felt like getting up and abandoning the interview - the interview she had only ever dreamed about. The technician spotted a loose cord and with a firm click the cord was back in its place. The young man gave the host a thumbs up and took a step back away from Kagura.

”All right listeners, thank you for your patience. Everything should be fine on our end. Once again, welcome to our show Gura.”

Kagura tried to speak to the mic, but nothing came out. She choked up. The normally ever bubbly and confident Kagura didn't want to disappoint the host or the listeners again. She felt partly petrified.

”Gura? Can you hear me?” the host asked.

Kagura glanced at the host, tears nearly watering her eyes. Then, a person of great importance in her life popped up to the producer's room. The silver-haired man stood there and looked at Kagura through the window.

It was Sakata Gintoki, her manager and the CEO of Yorozuya Entertainment. This was a man Kagura didn't want to let down, after all, he was the one who got her the interview and he helped to launch her dream career in the music industry.

And most importantly, he gave her a place to call home.

The producer said something to Gintoki and he nodded at the man. Kagura watched as Gintoki took a pair of headphones and put them over his ears. He was listening to the live show. He and the rest of the people listening would be getting only dead air if Kagura couldn't pull herself together right that second. 

That wasn't an option for her, no way in hell. ”H-hello,” Kagura pushed herself to say.

Kagura saw how the host's mood perked up with the sound of her voice. ”Yes, now that our listeners can finally hear you, we can start the interview,” the host said.

Kagura let out a breathy chuckle for everyone to hear. She felt more at ease, maybe he never was angry at her. After all it was only a technical issue with her microphone, nothing about her. She really needed to get out of her head sometimes.

”So Gura, thank you for coming.”

”Thank you, it's an honor to be here.”

The host smiled at Kagura as he spoke to her, making the whole interview seem very casual and not at all like it was broadcasted all around South-Korea. ”You must be excited, your first single is finally out.”

”Yes it is, we worked really hard to make it just perfect.”

”I can't wait to hear it, but let me ask you a couple of questions first,” the host asked as he pulled out a piece of paper. 

”When did you get your contract with YE?”

”I think it's been a year now. Sakata-nim* is my boss, manager and foster-father. He has always been there to support me,” Kagura said with a wide smile and threw a quick look at Gintoki. ”So when he decided to start the company, he wanted me to be the first idol on his list.”

”A foster-father? I had no idea,” the host said.

”Yeah, I think it wouldn't do any good for me or the Yorozuya Entertainment if we'd kept it as a secret,” Kagura explained.

”I see,” the host concluded. ”Well, I think is very sweet of him to help you pursue your dreams, as a foster-father and your boss” the host said. 

”Yes, it is.”

The host smiled and glanced at the paper in front of him. ”I have another question for you Gura; YE is rather new in the business. Does it scare you as an artist?”

”Of course not, we have other talented artists as well to put YE on the map.”

Gintoki looked at Kagura with warmness filling his heart. He was proud of her. There she was, speaking so professionally and politely about her and the company. He had always known Kagura had what it took to become an idol.

Kagura was orginally from China, but spoke fluent Korean after she learned it in school. Gintoki also though she would offer something unique to the idol industry with her appearance. From her mother's side Kagura was actually half-russian. Kagura's red hair and blue eyes were all natural and a rare sight in Korea.

From a young age, Kagura had liked to sing and to say the least, the girl got some pipes. She wasn't his daughter by blood, but that wasn't even a factor in the way Gintoki saw her. 

She was like a real daughter to him.

Kagura had a rough childhood. Her mother had died when she was very young, leaving behind Kagura, her brother and her father. They had moved from China to South-Korea to start anew.

Kagura was orginally from China, but spoke fluent Korean after she learned it in school. Gintoki also though she would offer something unique to the idol industry with her appearance. From her mother's side Kagura was actually half-russian. Kagura's red hair and blue eyes were all natural and a rare sight in Korea.

Gintoki happened to be a next door neighbour of Kagura's family. The day was especially rainy. Kagura could remember how hard the rain drops poured against the ceiling. Like bullets. Kagura and her father walked hand in hand to Sakata's apartment door.

Gintoki opened the door and yawned his hellos at the duo standing on his doorstep. ”Hello Sakata-shi*, sorry to bother you. Could you take care of Kagura for a couple of days?” He had asked.

Gintoki had to chew the question a bit before it truly sanked in. Why him? Why so suddenly?  
They had been neighbours for a couple of months, meeting few times in the hallway. Their building was on a Chinese district, so Gintoki knew a bit of Chinese. He knew enough to do some polite small talk about the weather and such. Still, Gintoki was practically a stranger to them.

Still, somehow Kagura's father trusted him enough.

Gintoki scratched his fluffy hair and hesitated. He looked at the young girl with sparkling blue eyes, looking so harmless and kind. ”I guess I can.” He really didn't have anything huge going on at the moment, so why not.

”Thank you,” the man said and placed an envelope on Gintoki's hand. ”Here's something for your trouble.”

Kagura felt a peck on her forehead. ”Papi will be back soon enough,” he said and let go of her tiny hand. And with those words, he was gone.

Gintoki kneeled down on the little girl's level. She shyly looked at his gentle eyes. ”I guess we are going to be roommates for a couple of days,” he smiled. Kagura nodded at him and mirrored his smile.

”Do you like watching tv?” Gintoki asked.

”Uh-huh...” Kagura hummed.

”Let's go watch some tv then,” Gintoki said and stood back up.

After an hour Kagura seemed to be more relaxed, hogging the remote control from Gintoki, smiling at the commercials like the kid she was. Carefully, when she wasn't looking at him, Gintoki peeked inside the envelope. He swallowed at the sight.

There was a bit more money than he had expected. A bit more than to take care of a child for couple of days. More like for a couple of years. He wished for his sake, and mostly for Kagura's sake that her father was just really bad at math.

Days went by. Kagura waited patiently for her father.

”Is papi coming today?” she asked every morning with a smile.

”I'm not sure, we have to wait and see,” he answered.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Slowly, Gintoki and Kagura both began to realize he wasn't coming back. Not in a few days, not ever. 

Like any reasonable human would, Gintoki thought about taking Kagura to the child welfare center. She wasn't his daughter or even a distant relative. It was a strange situation for both of them.

But, he didn't. After a careful consideration Gintoki decided to take care of Kagura, he had grown fond of the young girl over time. And that was all that mattered to him. He was going to raise her with the best of his ability.

Gintoki enrolled Kagura to school and got himself a steady job. After a long exhausting paperwork he became Kagura's official guardian.

Kagura wasn't your every day girl, she had sass, she had a surprisingly foul mouth, uh...correction, she gained a foul mouth after just few weeks with Gintoki. Her first words in Korean were curse words, but it was a start. She was a very special young lady.

She liked to sing a lot and her voice wasn't ordinary, Gintoki was certain of that. Someone could say he was biased to like his ”own” daughters voice, but that wasn't the case. Kagura sang like a songbird and Gintoki wanted her to share her talent with the rest of the world.

When Kagura turned 14 Gintoki got the idea to start his own company, a brand new record label. He had always dreamed of the entrepreneur life. It took three whole years to safe up enough money, learn about the business and find the right people to work with.

And that was how the Yorozuya Entertainment came to be.

As Kagura kept answering the host's questions, Gintoki felt great relief. Kagura had went through a lot, but she still found a way to smile every single day. And Gintoki was ready to fight for that shining smile of a young heart.

”Yes Gura, that is true. You have the duo Eli and Zura, the girl group Sugar Addicts...and...,” the host said.

”Yup, and me.”

The host laughed a little. ”Yes, and you.”

”You know, at YE, we're like a real family and I love everyone to pieces.”

”I'm glad to hear that,” the host said. ”But Gura, I think it's finally time.”

Kagura smiled from ear to ear. ”Time to hear my single, yes?”

”Exactly right,” the host said and began to work on with his equipment. ”It's finally the time dear listeners, in a few seconds you're going to hear the very first song from Gura.”

Kagura wooed out of excitement and giggled right after.

”And don't forget, YE is having an outdoor concert at Syringa Park* next week, you can catch Gura and all the other idols from YE right there and for FREE! Can you imagine?”

”We're puting on a great show for you guys, so get ready to be amazed,” Kagura said proudly.

”That's right guys, be there or you'll miss out,” the host said and turned to look at Kagura. "Thank you so much for being here and I wish you all the best. Now without further delays. Here's Gura's new song; Time is precious!”

The host smiled and clicked the song to play. Everyone took their headphones off their ears. Kagura and the host were all smiles afterwards. ”Thank you for the interview,” Kagura said and bowed deeply for the host.

”Ah, the pleasure was all ours,” he said.

Gintoki walked into the room with a goofy smile. Kagura hopped on her feet and ran to him. She hugged him tightly. Kagura didn't have enough words to describe her happiness, so she much rather showed to him. Gintoki patted the back of her head gently and rubbed her upper back. ”You did great kiddo.”

”Thanks A-Gin*!” Kagura said quietly. 

Kagura was from China and Chinese was naturally her mother-tongue. She remembered how her mother used to call her A-Kagura. Because of that she thought that it was an endearment for important people.

Gintoki had studied a bit more Chinese to understand Kagura's heritage better. He explained to Kagura that ”A” wasn't the most appropriate way to call a man in his early thirties. It meant she called him ”sweet Gin” and some people could misunderstand it.

Still, she liked the way Gintoki smiled when ever she called him A-Gin, so she kept using it. Mostly privately.

”How about a lunch for our triumph?” Gintoki asked.

”Sounds good, I'm getting hungry already.”

”Let's go then.”

”Race you to the car,” Kagura announced and slipped past the silver haired man. The host looked at Gintoki with an amused look on his face.

”She's one of a kind idol, I'll tell you that,” Gintoki said and bowed at the host. Then he hurried after Kagura.

Author's notes:  
*nim: a word for respect in the Korean language (like a teacher, boss...)  
*shi: a word for respect in the Korean language (mr./mrs.)  
*A-Gin: an equivalent for Gin-chan from the Chinese language,  
Akelyokikagu from tumblr translated it for me from a Chinese doujinshi (my humble thanks : 3)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter right away too for being so MIA for so long!

”So the stage is reserved for us from 4pm to 6pm.”

”Okay,” Gintoki said to his loyal assistant, Shimura Shinpachi as he presented a piece of document in front of the silver haired CEO.

”And Kawakami-nim will take care of the soundtracks as we spoke earlier,” Shinpachi said and placed another paper on the desk.

Before Gintoki could answer him, third, fourth and even fifth paper was gently presented to rest on the wooden surface.

”Here are the receipts we need to copy for our accountants – here's the official approval from the city to hold the concert – here's a bill of the advertisement for the concert.”

Shinpachi's words spiralled through Gintoki's ears, so much to remember and so much more to do. ”Oi oi,”, he wailed. Then, from the corner of Gintoki's eye, he saw yet another paper coming. ”Ne! Shinpachi!”

”What is it Sakata-nim?” Shinpachi asked and straightened his almost oval-shaped glasses.

”Please, you can call me Gintoki”, the man said, discreetly guiding the conversation to somewhere else. ”I'm not that into the honorifics.”

”But Sakata-nim, you're my boss now. I don't want anyone to think that I'm disrespecting you.”

Gintoki turned with his chair towards the young black-haired man. ”Shinpachi, we've been friends for years, you don't have to worry about that”, he said. ”Just leave the honorifics for the public stuff, ne?”

Shinpachi smiled and his brown eyes sparkled. ”I guess I can do that...Gintoki”, he said. 

There was no-one who could call the young man rude in any way. He was a polite and hard-working person, someone Gintoki could really count on.

Shinpachi was also quite good with computers. Actually he was a lot better than Gintoki could ever imagine. In addition to his diligentness and computer skills, he had a decent sense of style. He was the one who made Gintoki dress like a boss should.

Gintoki's taste in clothes was pretty casual, so he went with a white dress shirt and a light grey suit. A tie was an enigma he wasn't ready for, but maybe someday in the distant future. 

Shinpachi on the other hand liked to dress up. He wore a light blue dress shirt with a beige cotton vest. He also claimed that his pants were dark blue rather than black, but no-one really cared.

Gintoki felt like he had successfully turned the tides of the conversation. But he was wrong, oh so wrong.

”Now, can we get back on the preparations of the concert?” Shinpachi asked, he knew very well his boss's lazy agendas.

”Haha, certainly”, Gintoki said with a forced smile.

Shinpachi flashed his shiniest smile and began to bombard Gintoki with documents. As the papers kept piling up, the easy-going CEO got lost in his thoughts.

Gintoki had always known it wasn't a cakewalk to run a business, especially not a record label, but that was the exact reason he had hired people to work for him. For Gintoki's salvation and headache, his employees worked faster than his mellow brain could adapt. 

Maybe I could hire someone to be the boss so I could just jump on a plane and enjoy some parfaits under the sun in Bahamas, Gintoki thought to himself.

Not that he could afford a trip to the Bahamas. Or a plane. Or a parfait for that matter. More importantly, if Gintoki would distant himself from the company, he wouldn't be able to help Kagura in achieving her dreams as an idol. He was his manager after all.

When the Yorozuya Entertainment was founded, it was difficult to just get by. It took time to find idols, it took time to make music. There wasn't a possibility to hire more people and that was the exact reason Gintoki decided to become the manager for the label's idols.

The voice of Shinpachi finally snapped Gintoki out of his trip down memory lane and the pressing worry of the massive loan he had taken for the company.

”A bill from the security firm – a bill from the equipments we bought for the concert – a bill from the fabrics...”

Shinpachi's words sounded all the same to Gintoki. Why am I so lousy with these things, Gintoki thought to himself. 

”GINTOKI!” A loud shout came from the door, startling both Gintoki and Shinpachi momentarily.

At the door was non-other than Shimura Tae, the head of public relations of YE, the older sister of Shinpachi and the one keeping Gintoki's laziness in check. ”I need you to sign these papers right now,” she said with a ominiously calm smile.

Tae, who more commonly went by Otae was a sharp young woman. After moving to Seoul she had graduated from business school with impressive papers. 

Otae was one of the first persons Gintoki wanted to hire, she was a ball of endless ideas with an unwavering drive to make them happen. There wasn't anyone who could have been a better fit for the head of PR than her. 

She looked very similar to her little brother, aside from her brown hair and her not needing any glasses. She liked to wear a tight pencil skirts and a fitting blouse. Today's colors were purple and white.

Otae had shoulder length hair, often worn in a neat ponytail. She had bangs to frame her petite face nicely. Also, she wasn't shy with accessories, usually sporting a tiny scarf around her neck with a matching color as the rest of her outfit.

”Hello ane-ue*!” Shinpachi said. The siblings were originally from Japan, so they liked to refer to each other in Japanese. Sometimes it was funny to observe when the two got into an argument and the language switched immediately back to home shore.

”Hello Shin-chan*, did you give Gintoki all the papers?” Otae asked and pushed a dark brown strand of hair behind her ear.

”Almost there”, Shinpachi chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck a little.

As the Shimuras chatted, Gintoki was halfway sliding down from his chair.

”Uh, Gintoki?” Otae asked.

A single call of his name froze Gintoki right up. Otae had a flair in her voice, soothing but chilling at the same time. A perfect voice for tortu-...uh...negotating with people.

”Yes, Otae?” Gintoki asked and magically sat up while casually fixing the sleeves from his shirt.

”Would you mind signing this?” Otae asked and tapped a piece of paper with her pen. ”It's a permission to-”

Gintoki raised his hand at Otae, who stopped talking out of surprise. It was rare for Gintoki to act all bossy and condescending towards employees, friends – towards anyone really.

”Me and Shinpachi here,” Gintoki said and began to fondle the documents on his desk. ”We're a little busy at the moment.”

Gintoki didn't have anything against the adamant woman, he just wasn't in the mood to handle another important matter. It was probably something urgent as it came from her.

Shinpachi glanced at his boss with wide eyes. All of a sudden Gintoki was very into the paperwork.

”Yes, thank you for taking things seriously for once,” Shinpachi said.

Gintoki looked at the young man standing next to him. ”But I always do.”

”No you don't.”

”Nope, not even little bit,” Tae backed up her younger brother.

Gintoki huffed. He knew they were right, but he also wanted to be the boss. ”I'll forgive you this time, okay?” he said. Both Shimuras nodded as they were trying to take him seriously and Gintoki took what he got.

”Alright Shinpachi, give me all the details,” Gintoki said and actually took one paper into his hands.

”Ah, wait,” Shinpachi said and searched the stack of papers he was holding. ”Just one more.”

Gintoki elevated one hand, ready to receive the last document. ”Take your time Shinpachi.”

”Hah! Here!” Shinpachi cheered and offered the paper to Gintoki. ”Here's the rent-”

Gintoki moved like a shadow the second he heard the word 'rent'. Before anyone could say another word, Gintoki had grabbed his gray jacket from his chair and suddenly stood next to Otae, carefully examining the permission note she tried to offer him a moment later.

”I'm in a meeting right now Shinpachi, take care of those for me”, Gintoki said and walked out of the office with Otae.

”Heeeyyy!” Shinpachi yelled after them, a vain effort that he pretty much new from the start. ”You can't run from the rent forever!”

*  
*

It had been a busy week at the YE building. After the release of Kagura's first single, Eli & Zura and Sugar Addicts released their first singles as well. Otae's PR plan for the company was to come out to the k-pop scene with a bang. Three new artists debuting at once was a real bang to say the least.

On top of everything, the free outdoor concert was well on its way. Almost everything had been taken care of, but Gintoki was a ball of stress on every single little detail. Yes, he appeared that he didn't care or had any interest on the matter, but that was just his defence mechanism. Honestly, he felt a little overwhelmed by the paperwork and stuff like that, but he cared.

Luckily he had Otae and Shinpachi. They were a power house together - and separately. They took care of running errands, permissions, equipments, all of that. This way Gintoki could focus better on the idols or as he so endearingly called the 'moneymakers'.

Gintoki helped everyone to prepare with the best of his ability. He wasn't a singer or a dancer, but he was a long time fan on k-pop. Yes, he was a grown man in his late twenties, but that didn't stop him from enjoying the music.

Gintoki understood showmanship, he was good at looking at the big picture, but he needed help with all the separate parts to build the idols into a functioning package.

Sugar Addicts had a member called Tsuu, going by the stage name Otsu. She had been dancing for several years. She sort of became the unofficial choreographer of the group and pretty much a choreographer for the whole company. 

Apart from Sugar Addicts, none of the other idols had any prior professional dancing experience. However with Gintoki and Otsu's help, the rest of the idols; Kagura and Zura & Eli were able to add enough movement for their performances to pop.

Kagura had the rhythm and she had the spark, but learning steps wasn't really her strong suit. Still, she was better at dancing than Eli & Zura, a duo consisting of Katsura ”Zura” Kotarou and Elizabeth ”Eli” Dragonia.

Zura was a peculiar rapper/singer and an old childhood friend of Gintoki's. He was...how to put this nicely...he was a total corky lovable weirdo. Zura did all the vocals for the duo and Eli, well Eli played a synthesizer*. He couldn't really participate with the vocals as the man was mute.

When Gintoki was trying to get Zura to join his label, he explained that all the music could be produced by computers, but Zura didn't really care. He had only one condition before signing any papers, Eli and him would form a duo together, no matter how weird it sounded to anyone.

Gintoki knew it was a risk, there wasn't anything like that in the k-pop scene, but Zura managed to convince Gintoki that they would become the next big thing, the k-pop version of Modern Talking*. It sounded too interesting for Gintoki to pass by, so he agreed to debut the duo.

It was still a mystery where Zura had found a mute man named Elizabeth, but they seemed to be inseperabtle friends despite it all.

After Kagura's demand on finding someone to help with the costumes for the idols, Gintoki found Tsukki. She was a talented stylist who never told anyone her full name, she just went by with Tsukki. She was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and sharp purpleish eyes. She also had a scar on her left eye , but no-one dared to ask anything about it.

Tsukki was a woman shrouded in mystery.

And what it came to making music, Gintoki was totally at loss. Luckily the company found a musical genius to work for them. 

Kawakami Bansai, a graduate from Korean National University of Arts. He was a prodigy. The young man was courted by many big companies when he was close to graduating. His future promised great things for him, he could have worked for anyone in the entire music industry, that's how talented he was. But...after graduating, he simply vanished. 

No-one ever knew why did he go or where did he go. Well, there was one person who knew why he disappeared, but that's a whole another story.

So how he ended up working in a new, rather unsure record label? Gintoki and Shinpachi didn't know Bansai or his background in music when they met him for the first time. The man was playing a shamisen* in a park, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, expression telling of his fondness for the instrument he was playing.

Gintoki liked his music and he asked if the man wanted a job. Bansai paused his song and looked into the silver-haired man's maroon eyes. There was nothing suspicious in the way the man looked at him. For some reason Bansai felt like trusting this man, thou he wasn't even sure what trust even meant anymore.

Only after Bansai signed his contract in Gintoki's office, he casually mentioned his degree in music. Gintoki practically and literally fell off his chair, how could he have known the man was a mastermind in music.

Otae suggested on upgrading his contract and salary, but Bansai refused. The only thing he desired was to make music without crazy expectations and no questions from his past. Gintoki and Otae both agreed to his terms, they would have been fools to decline.

And there it was, the group of people who together formed the Yorozuya Entertainment and Gintoki couldn't be any prouder.

*  
*

In a nice cozy office/work space of Tsukki, a final fitting was well on its way. Kagura twirled in front of a mirror and admired her outfit for the concert. 

”Well, what do you think Gura?” Tsukki asked.

Kagura had her long vermillion hair done with her signature look. Two small buns on top of her hair. It was like she had small round ears made from hair. The rest of the her puffy hair was flowing free, reaching all the way to her lower back.

The outfit Tsukki had sown for her was a perfect fit. Kagura had a red, off-shoulder shirt with long sleeves. Tsukki styled a high-wasted black cotton skirt to accentuate her small frame. 

The skirt reached just over Kagura's knee, the length matching nicely with her black ankle boots. No heels was Kagura's only wish for Tsukki when the design for her outfit was being created.

”It's really pretty Tsukki, I love it,” Kagura said as she played with a black velvet collar around her neck. It even had a cute golden heart in the middle.

Tsukuyo crossed her arms and smiled. ”I'm glad to hear that,” she said and walked to her desk. 

It was hard to tell it was a desk from all the sewing equipments and drafts of clothing covering the whole thing. She really needed a bigger room to work in, Kagura thought, but she very well knew this was all they could afford at the moment.

”You were the last one to do a fitting, every costume is now done for the show.”

”You're very efficient, yes,” Kagura pointed out to the blonde woman wearing a black form-fitting suit, hair cut into a short bob to fit the look.

Tsukki hummed happily. ”It wasn't that big of a project, there's only eight idols to dress after all.”

”That's true,” Kagura said and returned to posing for the mirror.

Tsukki began to dig out some papers to deliver for Gintoki. Probably more bills to pay for the poor CEO.

”Tsukki?” Kagura asked and looked at the ever elegant woman through the mirror.

”Yes Gura?”

”Don't tell A-Gin...but I'm a little nervous about the concert.”

Tsukki lifted her gaze up. ”Why would you be nervous?”

”It's just that...the interview for the radio went well, but...”Kagura paused.

”But what?” Tsukki asked. Kagura seemed to be seriously nervous. Sure, Tsukki hadn't known Kagura for a very long time, but the girl was like an open book when it came down to reading her emotions. She was one of the most confident and robust personalities Tsukki had ever seen, so seeing her falter worried her.

”You can talk to me,” Tsukki said and connected eyes with Kagura through the mirror.

”Well...this is the first time I'm performing live and...what if I screw it all up...”

Tsukki abandoned her papers and walked straight to Kagura. She placed her hands on her bare shoulders. ”Listen to me Gura”, Tsukki said in a really empowering voice. ”Look at the mirror.”

Kagura did as Tsukki said, and looked at her reflection. She sure looked like an idol...it felt almost surreal. ”What do you see?” Tsukki asked her.

”I see...me and you.”

”Yes, that's true. What else?”

”I see...your pretty clothes, yes.”

Tsukki shook her head a little. ”Those are not my clothes anymore, they're yours to wear, yours to feel confident in.”

”O-okay...” Kagura answered unsurely.

”You don't have anything to worry about Gura, you know you were born to command a stage.”

A smile sneaked on Kagura's pink lips. ”Uh-huh...”

”Just be yourself and sing the crowd into a bliss, okay,” Tsukki said and squeezed Kagura's shoulders slightly before letting go.

Kagura turned to look at Tsukki as she returned to her desk to get back to work. ”Hey...” Kagura said.

”What is it now?” Tsukki asked. She didn't even spare a look at Kagura, but that didn't bother the young starlet. Tsukki was all about keeping up a tough exterior, rarely allowing many feelings out.

”Thanks for the pep talk,” Kagura said.

Tsukki glanced at the redhead. She had a pleased look on her face, but it lasted only for a second. She's a complete softie inside, Kagura giggled to herself.

A knock on the door drawed the attention of both women in the room. ”Come in,” Tsukki said.

It was Gintoki coming in. ”Ne, how are we doing in here?” he asked and rolled his shoulders a little.

Kagura cocked an eyebrow. Was the ever lazy Gintoki being nervous. A thought of something being seriously wrong immediately crossed her mind. It was the day of the oblivion when Sakata Gintoki would stress openly about something.

Suddenly Tsukki turned her face away from the door. "We're doing perfectly fine here Sakata-nim," she almost mumbled.

”Uh, great...” Gintoki said and gulped a little.

Kagura stared at Tsukki for a moment. Where did the ever calm Tsukki went, she wondered. ”A-Gin...can we talk a little?” Kagura asked and walked closer to Gintoki.

”Oh, Kagura...I didn't see you there,” Gintoki said.

”What?” Kagura almost laughed.

”I-I mean of course I saw you there, that's not what I meant jeez...”

”Let's go already, yes”, Kagura said pulled her foster-father towards the door.

Tsukki cleared her throat behind her desk and tried to get up quickly. ”Before you go-” Tsukki said before she bumped her knee on the wooden table. "Tsk!"

"Tsukki!" Kagura called.

Gintoki moved by instict as he rushed to check on Tsukki. He went to her side to see if he could help in any way. "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing," she hissed and turned to Gintoki, who was closer to her than she had expected for him to be.

Kagura watched in complete silence as the usually super serious stylist slithered away from her desk, with a flushed face. Her completely black suit just made her blush more apparent.

"I-I'm fine," Tsukki said and tried to compose herself. "Uh, there's some documents for you on my desk Sakata-nim."

Kagura noticed a sudden shift in Gintoki's behaviour.

”Ne, Tsukki...when will you drop those unnecessary last names and stuff like that,” Gintoki said and leaned his right arm's elbow against the wall. ”You can call me Gintoki.”

Tsukki rolled her eyes at the surprisingly suave boss. Kagura felt equally amused by him as Tsukki was agitated.

Without any warning Tsukki grabbed Gintoki by his open jacket, never breaking eye-contact with Gintoki. ”Listen Sakata-nim,” she said, face still adorably pink. This felt like the right time to take a step back for Kagura.

”I-it's Gintoki,” he mumbled.

”For gods sake, do you understand you are my boss? I don't want to raise any rumours by calling you anything else than Sakata-nim."

Gintoki opened and closed his mouth like a confused goldfish in its glass bowl.

"Do you understand?" she snapped and shook him a little.

Gintoki laughed nervously at the woman. ”Ahaha...I know, I'm...I'm just joking...haha...” he said and slowly quieted his laughter down.

Tsukki let the man go and pointed her finger at the documents she was talking about.

Kagura was waiting outside Tsukki's office. She had seen and heard just about everything and all of it tickled her funny bone. ”Let's go A-Gin!” Kagura shouted to draw his full attention.

”Ah, yes! We have to go now. Have a nice day Tsukki!” Gintoki said and shut the door behind him as fast as he could.

Gintoki exhaled deeply through his mouth. Kagura crossed her arms and waited for him to say something and to try to explain himself out of everything that just happened.

”Well...?”

”Well what Kagura? We should be going already?” Gintoki hissed a little. ”We need to go and check out the stage at the park and-”

”No no no...wait”, Kagura grinned at the man. ”Do you have anything to tell me...anything at all?”

Gintoki squinted his eyes at Kagura. ”What are you talking about brat?”

Kagura rolled her eyes. ”Well you obviously have the hots for Tsuk-” Kagura's statement was muffled out by Gintoki's hand blocking her mouth.

”Shhhhhhhhhh! Shhhhhhhh! Someone could hear you”, Gintoki whispered. He wasn't actually blushing...but there was a some kind of glow on his cheeks.

”Mmmffhghmmmmm!” Kagura tried to point out.

”What?”

Kagura pushed his hand off her mouth and frowned at him. ”You heard me.”

”I don't know what you're talking about”, Gintoki brushed her words right off. ”You kids nowadays think you know everything.”

Kagura was familiar with Gintoki's ways of handling difficult situation. He wasn't old, but he was an old(er) soul to say the least. He began to blame the youth when it was about remote controllers, computers or crushes.

”So are we going to the park now?” Kagura asked, graciously pretending she hadn't pointed out anything.

Gintoki smiled at her. ”Yes, we definitely are.”

”Great, let me just change clothes,” Kagura said and pointed out her new outfit. ”I don't want anyone to see this yet.”

”Of course,” Gintoki said and walked Kagura to her dressing room.

Before closing the dressing room's door Kagura couldn't help but to tease Gintoki just a little bit more. "Oh, A-Gin!"

"Hmm?"

"I'm pretty sure she's into you too," Kagura said and vanished before Gintoki could do anything.

"H-hey!!!"

*  
*

Kagura stopped teasing Gintoki about the Tsukki thing, he seemed to prefer not to talk about it. Maybe some other time he could confess his crsytal clear feelings, but now he had so much more on his mind.

When Gintoki and Kagura got to the company's car, Gintoki had a simple question for Kagura before they entered the vehicle.

”Can I ask you something Kagura?”

”Uh-huh, ask away.”

”The concert is only one week away”, Gintoki said to her, voice remaining as calm as he was talking about puppies. ”How do you feel about it?”

Kagura smiled. ”Well...I'm very excited.”

”Good...good.”

”Yeah.”

”You're almost a fully debuted idol.”

”I guess I am,” Kagura felt like Gintoki was tiptoeing about something and it annoyed her. ”Where are you getting with these questions A-Gin?”

”Kagura, you're like my daughter...do you really think I'm not worried about your well-being? This industry is very stressful.”

”Worried?”

”Yes, I feel like you're not telling me everything.”

Kagura knew what he meant. So he had seen her nervousness through her smile, she thought.

”I...I'm just afraid.”

Gintoki's eyes sharpened at her words. ”Afraid?”

”...I know how much effort you've put into me, this company and everything...”

”That's true...but what are you afraid of Kagura?” Gintoki asked.

Kagura could feel her eyes getting watery. This was one of her biggest fear and talking about it made it feel more real. ”Well what if I screw the show up or something else? I don't want to let you down and-”

Kagura's rambling quieted down as Gintoki pulled her into his arms. 

”Silly girl...” Kagura listened to Gintoki's voice. It was deep and endearing. Also fatherly. It was just what she needed to hear.

”You could never let me down, no matter if things won't work out the way we planned.”

Kagura answered his hug by latching her fingers into his gray jacket. Even the stupid soft fabric felt comforting.

”I'm still going to work my ass of, yes”, Kagura said and sniffed quietly.

”I know that already Kagura..I know,” Gintoki said and patted the back of her head.

”Can we go to the park already A-Gin?” Kagura asked and tried to calm down her voice. She didn't want to cry over stupid things, she was too busy to do that.

”Yes, let's go then.”

A/N:

*ane-ue: a honorific for a sister in the Japanese language  
*chan: a honorific for someone younger in the Japanese language  
*Modern Talking: a German duo consisting of singer Thomas Anders and arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen  
*synthesizer: an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that may be converted to sound  
*shamisen: a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument sanxian


	3. Chapter 3

The grand outdoor concert was just two days away and Kagura had trained for her performance like a madwoman.

Otsu had planned a very simple choreography for Kagura and she would be forever grateful to her fellow idol for doing so.

After another practice session Kagura felt better about her performance. But still, she had her doubts. It was like Kagura wasn't at the level she felt like she should already be.

Dancing is fun so why can't I get it right, Kagura cursed to herself as she ran the steps through in her head.

”Hey Otsu,” Kagura called as they were changing out of their training clothes.

”Yeah?”

Kagura slipped her pastel pink overall skirt over her white t-shirt. ”Thanks for being so patient with me,” she said. 

It was true that Kagura knew the steps, but somehow she had difficulties with making the choreo look graceful. And it pained her. She wanted nothing more than to execute Otsu's vision perfectly.

”Oh come on, don't be silly,” Otsu said waved her hand at Kagura. ”You're doing a great job for someone who hasn't danced a lot of choreos.”

”Heh...thanks”, Kagura said and smiled a bit. 

”I mean, you have the steps down already. All you have to do now is to get out of your head,” Otsu said and walked closer to the dance studio's mirror.

Kagura followed the girl, she felt puzzled by her words. ”What do you mean by that?”

Otsu tightened her bright purple side ponytail and glanced at Kagura. ”You think about the steps too much.”

”Oh,” Kagura said and scratched her right temple.

”Dancing is about feeling the steps, otherwise you'll just look like a robot”, Otsu explained. ”Do you know what I mean?”

Kagura understood exactly what she was saying. It just wasn't so easy to do that. ”Yeah...I just need to practice some more.”

”Sure, I come and help you when I have the time,” Otsu said and picked up her favourite piece of clothing from the floor. A canary yellow leather jacket. She wore it with everything, no matter the weather or the occasion, Otsu rocked that jacket.

Kagura had always admired the fellow idol for her bold and edgy look. A canary yellow wasn't a color for everyone. Usually Otsu wore a lot of black clothes, with a sprinkle of purple or yellow here and there. Nets and leather seemed to be her favourite materials.

As punk as Otsu's look was, her personality was the opposite. She was sweet as a pie, silly and very talented to top it all off. Otsu was always there to help everyone in need and that was actually the biggest reason Kagura liked her so much.

Today Otsu had chosen black skinny jeans and a black loose t-shirt with a text: black is my happy color. A classic look from Otsu.

Kagura also tightened her ponytails in front of the mirror. She had her vermillion hair pulled into two pigtails on the back of her head. 

Kagura was more into cutesy things rather than chains and studs. Her pink overall skirt's hem reached just above her knees so it worked perfectly as a dress. Kagura had attached matching pink fluffy pompoms to her pigtails just for fun. She was truly a sucker for everything cute.

Kagura huffed quietly in front of the mirror.

”What is it?” Otsu asked and turned to look at Kagura.

”Well...I just realized that I'm running out of time with my practicing.”

”Ah...yeah. Two days to go.”

Kagura exhaled deeply, pushing the air forcefully through her mouth. She looked like a wide eyed puffer fish with her puckered lips. Otsu couldn't help but to giggle a bit.

”I'm sure you'll pull it off,” Otsu said.

”Heh...maybe,” Kagura hummed. ”I'm just glad I'm performing first...so I don't have to go right after the great dancing squad.”

Otsu giggled again. ”For me it's quite the opposite.”

”Huh?”

”Gura...you're hands down the best singer in here. The rest of us have to push really hard to reach even half of your level.”

”Pppffffff!”

”You don't have to be so modest”, Otsu chuckled.

Kagura loved singing, she really did. Otsu wasn't the first one to tell her she was a great singer. Gintoki was the very first person to point it out to her and his words impacted her deeply. From a young age, she began to hone her natural talent.

”Eh, we should get going already, yes”, Kagura said to change the subject. 

She knew she was a wonderful singer and a very confident one too, but at this very moment Otsu's sweet words unfortunately fell to deaf ears. Kagura was a perfectionist, and her lacking dance skills bothered her.

Kagura knew that she had a lot of growing up to do. Mostly with being able to cut some slack to herself. Then again, she was an artist. Is there even such a thing as a mellow, always self-forgiving artist? I think not.

For Kagura, aiming for perfection was her fuel and bringing joy to people was her goal.

”Right, Shinpachi told us to come to the break room”, Otsu recalled. ”I'm ready if you are.”

”Yup, let's go,” Kagura chirped.

*  
*

Before Kagura and Otsu entered the break-room, both could hear some voices coming from inside. It sounded like a flock of hens assembled into a tiny space, which obviously meant that the four remaining members of Sugar Addicts were already there.

Sugar Addicts consisted of five members: Otsu, Yunah, Minty, Ruby and Soyeon. 

Yunah was the oldest, she had long black hair with slightly overgrown bangs. She was serious a person with a calm voice. Similar to Otsu, she showed a more passionate side when she was performing, especially during dancing.

Minty and Ruby were identical twins. They both shared a great passion for music from a young age and aiming to be idols together felt like the most natural thing to do. Minty had long black hair with turquoise tips and Ruby had the same cut but with red tips.

Soyeon was the youngest of the group. She had dark brown shoulder length hair. She appeared to be innocent and quiet girl, but behind closed doors she had an opinion about everything. A quality that could help her or hurt her.

As the girls entered the room, a cheerful greeting was the first thing they heard. ”Otsu-ya! Gura-ya!*” Minty said with a smile and waved her hand.

”Hi guys!” Kagura said and lifted her hand at the girls. 

All four of them were sitting on a big green couch which Gintoki had provided for the break-room. It was actually his old couch, but Kagura wasn't going to tell anyone that secret piece of information.

Kagura and Otsu sat on the floor next to the couch. ”You had vocal lessons today, right?” Otsu asked her band mates.

”Yeah, we practiced a lot with Kawakami-nim”, Minty said.

”He was worried for you Otsu”, Yunah said, voice as soft as silk. 

”Really? Why?” Otsu asked.

”He said you should focus more on yourself rather than helping others all the time,” Soyeon said nonchalantly. She threw a look at Kagura during her words, arousing a lift of an eyebrow from the surprised girl.

Intentiously or not, it felt like she threw some serious shade on Kagura's way. Luckily for Soyeon, Kagura was too tired to stir up anything from a small thing like that. She just stared Soyeon deep into her brown eyes to show her that she heard the comment loud and clear.

Otsu tried to avoid confrontation at all costs, so she laughed nervously to defuse the slight tension surrounding the small space. ”Ah, stop worrying girls. I'm seeing Kawakami-nim later today.”

Yunah crossed her arms loosely. ”Good.” 

”Ah, did Shinpachi-shi* tell you to come here too?” Ruby asked.

”Yes, he wanted to talk about the concert”, Otsu said.

”Well then...I guess we have time to kill before he gets here,” Soyeon said and sighed a little.

”Hmm...Patsuan is usually on time... I hope everything is okay,” Kagura worried and scratched her neck.

Otsu giggled. ”You call him Patsuan?”

”Is he your boyfriend or something?” Soyeon teased.

Kagura frowned her brows and huffed dramatically. ”NO! I've just known him for many years, yes.”

”Ne, I think Soyeon was only joking, right?” Ruby said.

”Maybe, maybe not,” Soyeon snarled. Her annoyingly vague answer raised some frustration in Kagura, but it appeared to amuse the rest of the girls.

”Whatever, I don't care,” Kagura muttered. ”Shinpachi is like a brother to me and that's that.”

Otsu stroked Kagura's arm gently, she felt bad that her friend felt attacked. She firmly believed it was the pressure of the concert pressing on everyone's shoulders that caused some rudeness from some of her band mates. 

”Why don't we watch some tv to pass the time,” Otsu suggested.

Minty snatched the remote control from a small round coffee table. ”Great idea Otsu unnie*.”

All six girls turned their attention to the small screen. Kagura hoped that there would be some re-runs of her favorite dramas or something light-hearted like that. 

Minty switched channels like she was looking for the holy grail of tv shows. Ruby grew tired of her sisters channel surfing and tried to take the remote to away from her. It naturally resulted in some feisty sibling banter. 

Kagura lost all hope on ever getting to watch any show. She shifted her focus on the white walls of the room.

She thought it would be amazing to decorate the walls of the break room with photos from everyone. Pictures of upcoming concerts, tours, music video shoots and red carpet events. That way the room would work as a diary of sorts for the Yorozuya Entertainment. 

A simple place to remember where everyone began their journey to stardom. 

A sudden gasp snapped Kagura out of her thoughts. She searched for the source of such a loud noise. Her eyes darted at Minty and Ruby. Both girls were frozen still, eyes sparkling and tightly glued to the tv screen.

”Oh! Stop changing the channel,” Soyeon said and leaned closer to the tv.

”It would be plain illegal to change the channel now,” Ruby said.

”Agreed sis,” Minty affirmed.

Otsu took a better look at the tv screen. Even Kagura got extremely curious. What an earth was so intriguing to everyone, she thought.

It was a music video. After the first beats of the song, Otsu started bobbing her head a little. ”Oh! It's Ω mega,” she said.

”Yeah! I haven't heard this song in ages,” Soyeon said and began to move with the music.

Kagura looked at the screen. Ω mega was an extremely succesful boy band who had dominated the charts for the past five years. Kagura had heard about them, but she didn't have a specific interest on the group.

”I love them!” Minty said.

”Me too!” Ruby agreed.

Even the ever cool Yunah had an opinion about Ω mega. ”I've always admired their dancing skills”, she commented

”Me too,” Otsu said.

Kagura turned to look at Otsu, she wasn't expecting her to fangirl over the mighty Ω mega. In Kagura's eyes, they were a somewhat overhyped group with their millions and millions of adoring fans and hefty amount of awards.

”Oh, this is my favourite part!” Minty gloated and pointed her finger at the screen. Her enthusiasm drawed Kagura's eyes back to the screen.

A man with light brown hair took the center spot in a very complex dance sequence. His moves were smooth and effortless, even Kagura acknowledged his dancing abilities. 

The video jumped between the dance scene and close-ups of the man. He had icy blue contacts like many idols these days had, luring pretty much any viewer to look solely at him.

”He is so hot,” Soyeon marvelled

”He is seriously unreal,” Ruby said and fanned her face with her hands.

Kagura scratched her head. ”Who is that?”

Every single member of the Sugar Addicts turned to look at Kagura. They looked at her like she had asked if the water was wet.

”What do you mean who is that??” Minty asked with mouth gaped open.

”You can't be serious,” Ruby added.

Kagura felt annoyed. Why the hell was this one so-called hot boy so important, she thought.

”That's S, the main-dancer and vocalist of Ω mega,” Otsu explained. ”And to be honest, the most popular member of the whole group.”

”Uh...okay,” Kagura simply said. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction the other girls were expecting from her. Was she supposed to throw twelve cartwheels for his honor and throw her panties up in the air. 

Well...that wasn't going to happen. ”I haven't heard of him”, Kagura said and shrugged her shoulders.

”Oh Gura...you're in for a treat,” Minty said.

”We'll tell you everything you need to know,” Ruby continued.

Before Kagura could turn down the wonderful offer, she was showered with a bucket load of info on the idol. 

”His stage name is S, he is 22-year-old superstar working under Cosmos Recors”, Minty began.

”He debuted in Ω mega, the greatest boy group ever in my opinion. But he did many solo projects shortly after the group gained popularity.” Ruby said.

”He is an extremely talented dancer, even said to be one of the best in the industry,” Yunah said to Kagura's surprise. He must be very influential as he even got the attention of Yunah, Kagura thought.

”I really loved his solo debut song Skin,” Otsu said.

”Oh yes! I loved it too!” Soyeon said.

”It was a really dirty song in my opinion,” Yunah pointed out, making all the members of Sugar Addicts giggle.

”But that was the best part Yunah unnie!” Soyeon said tongue in cheek.

Kagura felt a little uncomfortable. All five girls around her were gushing over this mysterious S, so she naturally felt left-out. Maybe if she showed some interest in him it would ease the situation, Kagura thought.

”So...what does the S stand for?” Kagura asked.

”Well...it's never actually been confirmed by Cosmos Records, but fans have many theories,” Ruby said.

”Most of us think it's the first initial of his real name, which we still don't know,” Minty said and playfully shook her clenched fists.

”Or it could be, superstar, Seoul, swag...” Soyeon listed.

”Swag?!” Otsu laughed.

”No-one is stupid enough to call themselves swag...” Kagura said and raised her eyebrow. ”Hey! Maybe the S stands for stupid?”

Kagura's fantastic suggestion wasn't well received among the girls. Who could have guessed that..? 

”It could be his hometown's initial or an animal,” Yunah continued.

”That's the part of his charm. The mystery of S,” Soyeon pointed out.

”I think so too,” Minty said and nodded her head a couple of times.

”Also, he is known to interact with fans a lot,” Otsu said.

”Yes, there are hundred of videos online of S appearing in random places to surprise any fan who spots him,” Minty explained.

”Okay...” Kagura said, still feeling a little unimpressed. He wasn't the first idol to interact with fans, althought he seemed to be a bit more active with it than others.

”A-anyway,” Otsu said and turned to Kagura. ”After all the new information we gave you, what do you think about him?”

Kagura felt five pairs of eyes staring right in to her soul. They were clearly expecting some sort of smitten reaction from her. So Kagura glanced at the tv screen to help her form a fair and well thought-out opinion of the handsome man called S.

The music video was on its last frames. S was sitting on a rustic looking chair in a dimly lighted space. The camera's angle was a side-profile of him and the chair. S slumped his back against the chair with a small slow-motion effect. 

He ran his hand on his hair and looked away from the camera. A light hit his face just enough to highlight his sharp jaw line. Then the frame faded away with the last note of the song.

Kagura thought the song and video were okay, but when it came down to the beloved S, she had only one word for him.

”Meh.”

”MEH?!” Ruby and Minty shouted in unison.

Soyeon shook her head in disapproval, but Kagura couldn't care less. Otsu and Yunah weren't as baffled as the rest of the girls, but a little surprised. Meh was quite diminishing after all.

Shinpachi walked in to the break-room just in time before the passionate S stans* attacked Kagura's opinion. ”Hi everyone!” Shinpachi said and drawed the attention of all six girls.

”Oh, hello Shinpachi-shi,” Yunah said. ”We've been waiting for you a while now.”

Shinpachi scratched the back of his head. ”Ah, sorry. Sakata-nim had some urgent matters I had to take care of.”

”It's okay,” Soyeon chirped like the two-faced creature she was.

”We need to leave to the park, they finally got the electricity working on the stage,” Shinpachi informed.

Without further words, all the aspiring idols stood up, smiling and ready to go. Kagura snatched the remote control from the couch to turn off the tv, which was apparently running another music video from Ω mega. She sighed and pressed the power button.

As the group of people followed Shinpachi out of the building, Otsu pulled Kagura to slow down her pace. ”Hey,” she whispered.

”Hey,” Kagura whispered back and grinned sweetly.

Otsu looked like she had something on her mind, but for some reason she held her words back. ”What is it Otsu?” Kagura asked.

”Oh...you noticed...,” Otsu said quietly.

”I did. Tell me what's on your mind.”

Otsu shook of the unnecessary nervousness she was feeling and spoke up. ”Uh, it's just that...why you disliked S so much?”

”We're still taking about that guy?” Kagura asked. She was surprised about Otsu's question, maybe S was more important idol to her than Kagura had thought.

”Hey...I'm serious.”

”Okay okay...well, I didn't say I disliked him,” Kagura explained. ”It's just that I don't understand what you all see in him.”

Otsu nodded her head a couple of times, she was happy that Kagura wasn't afraid to speak her mind around her. ”Right...but he is a wonderful dancer. You can't deny that Gura,” Otsu giggled.

”Sure, maybe he is,” Kagura said and flicked her long ponytails. ”I just think that most of you adore him because of his looks rather than the dancing, yes.”

”Yeah, maybe some fans do, but I don't really mind.”

”I mean obviously you don't. You're all gushing about him and it's just a little off-putting to me.”

Otsu glanced at Kagura with a neutral look on her face. ”So you don't like him because we all admire him so much?”

”Uh...I-I don't know”, Kagura mumbled. She had difficulties with finding the right words. ”I just think it's shallow to like an idol just because of their looks.”

Otsu fell speechless, she wasn't sure how to feel about Kagura's statement.

”What?” Kagura asked.

”But I'm not a fan because of his looks,” Otsu said. ”As I said, I admire his dancing abilities.”

”Yes you did. I heard that,” Kagura said to reassure her friend. ”I just feel like everyone are so insanely crazy about him and I don't want to become a fan of someone just because everyone else so passionately are.”

Otsu stopped walking. ”So...if I understood correctly, the only reason you don't like him, is because he is so darn popular”, Otsu said.

Kagura halted her movement at Otsu's words. Her tone was serious.

”Don't you think you're being the shallow one right now?” Otsu simply asked.

Kagura was caught off guard by Otsu's question. She hadn't even thought about her own words from another point of view. And they were hella rude to say the least. Kagura pretty much unintentionally bashed Otsu for stanning a popular idol she liked.

Before Kagura could apologize or say anything at all, Otsu continued walking forward. Kagura watched silently as the purple haired girl caught up with her group and easily joined their conversation.

”Oi Gura! What are you standing there?” Shinpachi called from a distance. ”We have to go!”

”Y-yeah! I'm coming”, Kagura said and skipped after everyone. Her thoughts were all over place after her friends comment. The only thing she was certain about was that she needed to apologize to Otsu for being so inconsiderate to her.

And the other thing she needed to think about, was her own shallowness. Was his massive popularity really the reason she didn't get his charm? Or was there something else?

A/N:  
*ya: used as a ”hello” when attached into one's name in the Korean language, (Kagura-ya! = Hey Kagura!)  
*shi: Korean honorific, meaning mr. or mrs.  
*unnie: a female calls an older female as unnie in the Korean language  
*stan: a portmanteau of the words ”stalker” and ”fan”, refers to someone who is overly obsessed with a celebrity (urban dictionary), I personally feel like ”stanning” a group/celebrity isn't necessarily overly obsessing, more like a hardcore fan thing (correct me if I'm wrong)


	4. Chapter 4

Her chest was heaving heavily. She could feel every beat of her heart pound like a jungle drum against her rib cage. With every passing second, with every new pump of her pulse, Kagura slowly realized what was going to happen in the next five minutes.

She heard the upbeat background music coming from the speakers. Just five minutes and it would be her song playing out there. Kagura stood at the steps, waiting for Otae to tell her when it was time - time to take the stage.

The day had finally arrived for the outdoor concert. The very first time the idols of YE were performing live.

Kagura felt ready, but nervous. She pulled the sleeves down from her red off-shoulder shirt. The sleeves kept rising whenever she moved too much, annoying her greatly. Normally that didn't bother Kagura at all, but right now her nerves were getting to her.

She knew her words, she knew her steps. Now all she had to do was to relax. Well, easier said than done, she thought and continued to focus on her breathing.

Kagura jumped a bit as she felt a hand softly touch her bare shoulder. She turned to look at the person behind her. It was Otsu and the rest of the Sugar Addicts.

The groups wardrobe was like an explosion of color. They all had tight shorts and a loose shirt that revealed one shoulder. The outfits were identical but each member had their own color.

Otsu had yellow, Minty had blue, Ruby had red, Yunah had purple and Soyeon had pink. Tsukki had suggested that with the crazy colorful clothes, they obviously had to have showstopping make-up and hair.

They had their hair braided tightly, but differently from one another. Nude lips and tight eyeliner. They looked like a very memorable and cohesive group in Kagura's eyes and she was sure that many fans would feel the same way.

”Hi guys,” Kagura said and smiled shyly.

Otsu gave Kagura an encouraging smile. ”You're going to be great Gura,” she said, seeing the slight anxiousness from Kagura's ocean blue eyes.

Just those few words eased Kagura's mind a lot. She knew Otsu was her friend through thick and thin. They didn't have to agree on everything to be real friends. Not even a man like S could get between them.

They had talked about the whole S thing on the night before the concert. Kagura had apologized and Otsu had brushed off the whole thing as small and meaningless. They simply agreed to disagree on the matter of stanning S.

”We know you can do it Gura!” Minty said to Kagura.

”Give them a taste of what we YE girls are made of”, Soyeon said to Kagura's surprise. 

She seemed sincere with her words of encouragement rather than snide. Then again, Soyeon was an out-spoken person, she said what was in her heart, no matter the person or situation and Kagura respected that about her. Maybe someday they both could get along better.

It felt empowering for Kagura to feel the support of her colleagues. ”Thank you...I really appreciate it,” she said, getting warm smiles in return. 

”You look so cute in that outfit,” Ruby pointed out, touching Kagura's black skirt a bit.

”Ah, I'm not as stunning as you all, but this will do”, Kagura said and giggled with the girls. They were all gorgeous, only a blind person could deny it.

Otae came to the backstage with a box in her hands. ”It's almost time,” she said and walked to the girls.

Kagura gulped at Otae's words. This was finally it. 

Otae opened up the box and handed everyone a headset microphones. It sure was easier to move and sing with a headset than a regular microphone.

”Kawakami and Shinpachi are handling all the technical aspects and if something goes wrong, they'll inform you through the headset,” Otae began. ”I'm going out there first to welcome the audience.”

All the girls nodded in unison, they were ready to go whenever Otae was.

”And as you all know, Gura is up first, then Sugar addicts and lastly Eli & Zura”, Otae said and walked right next to Kagura who was still standing on the steps. ”Oh right, if you want to observe each other performing, Kawakami and Shinpachi have monitors.”

With those last words, Otae stepped to the stage. All six girls looked at each other and hurried together to Kawakami and Shinpachi. Eli & Zura were already there, looking like they came straight from the 80s.

Zura had a green headband, green track suit with yellow, purple and pink stripe details. His long black hair was styled to look like a funny mullet. No-matter how much Tsukki fought with him, Zura adamantly kept the questionable mullet.

Eli had a snow-white suit and white shoes. He gladly gave most of the color attention to his counter-part. He was just happy to have his orange synthesizer with him.

”Hey girls,” Shinpachi greeted from his spot.

”Shinpachi, please stay focused,” Bansai said calmly. He seemed to be very focused on the monitors, maybe even a little anxious by the way he was tapping his foot. It was a big responsibility to handle all the music and microphones on a live concert after all. Kagura couldn't remember another time she saw him like that.

Bansai was actually a very hard person to read. He had his sunglasses on everywhere, so his voice was pretty much the only thing to give out his emotions.

Bansai was looking at his monitor, fingers ready on specific buttons, his signature yin jang styled headphones plugged into his laptop and one foot still tapping steadily against the floor. 

His emerald-green spiky hair was bobbing with his foot's settle movement, amusing Kagura into smiling widely. It was quite calming to see that she wasn't the only one feeling so tense about the concert.

”We trust you Kawakami-nim,” Kagura said to reassure the poor man.

Bansai glanced at Kagura briefly and his foot stopped tapping. It was like he connected all the dots in a matter of seconds. He realized that Kagura saw through his calm demeanor and that was the last thing he wanted. 

”Thank you for the trust Gura, but I'm just one man behind the scenes,” Bansai said with his low voice. He hid his nerves pretty well to be honest.

”Oi Kawakami-niiiiiim!” Soyeon said in a high-pitched voice and leaned her chin on his shoulder. Bansai jumped a bit at the unexpected gesture. ”You are much more than one man behind the scenes.”

Before Bansai could say or do anything at all, all five members of the Sugar Addicts were hugging him. His musical skills were on another level, but he was also a very good vocal mentor. So naturally he was loved by pretty much everyone.

Bansai grunted and tried to hide his fluster. ”I need to focus now...” he muttered, secretly feeling somewhat happy about the amount of adoration he received. Still, it made the feeling bitter-sweet. Bansai appreciated the love he got from the young idols, but the love he truly desired was out of his reach.

As the girls gave Bansai his personal space back, Shinpachi puffed his cheeks a little. ”Hey, what about me?” Shinpachi asked, feeling severely left-out.

”Oh stop being so dramatic, yes,” Kagura teased. Shinpachi rolled his eyes and returned to look at his monitors.

”Okay, Otae is on the stage now,” Shinpachi informed.

”I'm turning on her microphone”, Bansai said.

Kagura watched from the screens as Otae began waving her hand for the audience. She looked really beautiful in her yellow kimono. She sometimes liked to wear clothes from her original culture and she sure looked like an elegant Japanese lady in her attire.

”Hello! Welcome everyone to Yorozuya Entertainment's first ever, outdoor concert!” Otae announced.

The applauses could be heard by everyone in the backstage. If Kagura thought her heart was pounding earlier, well, now it was really hitting hard.

”I want to thank you all for coming today and I think we are ready for our first performer,” Otae said and smiled. ”Please enjoy the very first idol of Yorozuya Entertainment, Gura!”

”That's your cue Gura,” Shinpachi said without taking his eyes off the screen.

”Good luck out there”, Zura said to her.

Kagura gave a firm nod to Shinpachi and proceeded to strut confidently to the steps, ready to amaze everyone. She took a deep breath and made her way through the curtain.

*  
*

The first things Kagura saw was the lush greenery around the park, the amount of sunlight pouring through the syringa's branches and all the people in front of the stage. The crowd wasn't that large, but Kagura felt grateful for every single one who came to see the concert.

The stage was surrounded by a security fence. Gintoki stood next to the metal fence, eyes beaming of joy as he saw Kagura take the stage. Her step was confident, every ounce of nervousness she felt before started to fade away.

The people began to cheer in excitement of the beautiful red-head who stopped to stand in the middle of the stage. Her smile was wide and the warm sun on her cheeks brightened her naturally pale skin. Absolutely nothing could go wrong, that's how good she felt right at that moment.

The cheering quieted down, giving her a moment of silence to speak. 

”The song I'm going to sing for you...it's my very first one,” Kagura said and felt almost emotional saying it out loud. Everything felt so real, but yet so unbelievable.

”This is Time is Precious – I hope you enjoy it,” she said proudly. After her words the song started to play. The intro lasted for a couple of seconds, allowing Kagura a moment to psyche herself up.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, using every corner of her lungs to get as much oxygen as she could. As she breathed in, the park's wonderful scents felt exhilarating. She smelled grass, syringas and a touch of her own strawberry perfume.

The song hit its first beat and Kagura prepared to give the audience a great show.

Everyone in backstage held in their breaths as they watched her from the monitors. Kagura opened her eyes and flicked her long vermillion hair a bit, making the small ”bun ears” wobble with her movement. She opened her mouth, ready to sing the first words.

A loud scream from the audience cut Kagura off before she even began. Her eyes tried desperately to locate the person who screamed. It sounded like a woman.

Even Gintoki began to look into the audience, trying to see what caused the loud voice. Kagura's song played all along in the background. She didn't know should she jump in to the song or should she wait. It was frustrating to say the least.

”What happened? Why isn't she singing?” Otae asked.

Bansai and Shinpachi were equally confused about the situation. ”Check the cameras Shinpachi,” Bansai said.

”Okay,” Shinpachi said and began to check every frame carefully.

Kagura heard Bansai talking into her ear. ”Gura, I'll lower the music down untill we find out what happened in the audience.” Kagura glanced at the camera that was right in front of her and nodded lightly.

”She heard me,” Bansai confirmed to Shinpachi.

Kagura heard the beautiful melody of her song quiet down, she didn't know how to feel about it. It was disheartening, but on the other hand Kagura wanted to make sure that the woman in the audience was all right.

This was just a set-back, a minor hurdle before she could really sing her song.

”OOH! OH MY GOD!” someone else shouted from the audience. Kagura, Gintoki and pretty much every single person in the vicinity looked at the woman screaming at the back of the crowd. She was frantically pointing at something.

”There,” Shinpachi said and zoomed a camera at the woman. Everyone in the backstage tried to look at the monitor, practically trampling over Shinpachi, almost pushing him off his chair.

Kagura noticed a girl jumping in front of the stage, apparently trying to get a better look of what was happening. It took about two more jumps for her to start freaking out. The girl flipped out her phone and called someone.

”You better get into the Syringa Park right now, S IS HERE!” the girl yelled at the phone and tried to charge through the mass of people.

Huh?...S...is here? Kagura asked herself.

Then to Kagura's horror a massive portion of the all ready small audience began to move away from the stage. Gintoki looked at Kagura who was frozen still, unable to utter a word. He wanted to help her somehow, he just didn't know how.

Then Kagura saw him in the distance. It was S, the S, the ridiculously famous and cherished idol. He was entering the park with three buff bodyguards surrounding him.

People were quickly gathering around S, making it impossible for him to move anywhere. The bodyguards did everything they could, it wasn't that easy to keep starstruck fans at bay. 

Girls were screaming his name and phone cameras flashing all over the park. Kagura thought he was like a rare zoo animal, everyone wanted a piece of him.

Gintoki saw his opportunity to be useful. He certainly didn't know who was this man with pastel blue hair, causing a fuzz in everywhere he went. Gintoki went as the fourth person to cover the young man. With Gintoki's help every direction was blocked from the eager fans.

Kagura observed from the stage the peculiar sight that was supposed to be her audience, her potential fans listening to her song. But no, they were all going crazy for someone who had no business in the concert.

In the backstage, every member of Sugar Addicts saw and recognized S. They would have probably ran to see him in person as every fan would, but they couldn't. Otae stopped them. 

Even Soyeon understood why they couldn't go out there. The situation was already hard enough for Kagura, who just stood there, feeling incompetent and uninteresting. Like a complete failure.

One of the bodyguards noticed Gintoki siding with them. ”Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?”

Gintoki turned to the man with black hair and a rude attitude. ”I'm helping you, what does it look like?”

”Please step away, I can't know if you're some crazy person,” the man said.

Gintoki huffed arrogantly. ”I am the CEO of Yorozuya entertainment, I give you one change to apologize mr. grumpy.”

S sneered at Gintoki's choice of words. ”Let it go Hijikata”, S said to his bodyguard with his stoic voice.

Hijikata grunted. ”Fine”, he said, but thought that S was being too gullible about the strange man with silver hair.

”We are having a concert – or actually we are trying to have a concert here”, Gintoki said.

”Well then, could we use your backstage to get away safely?” Hijikata asked as quietly as possible.

”Sure, let's try to move closer to the stage”, Gintoki said. ”There's a security fence over there.”

More people were arriving into the park, the word of S' presence had spread fast. Gintoki noticed that some people were carrying professional cameras with them, concluding that the paparazzi had arrived.

S seemed surprisingly calm in the situation. He kept waving at his fans, causing them to scream even louder. Was this one of his surprise appearances, Kagura wondered to herself.

The bodyguards managed to move through the crowd, getting closer and closer to the fence. Kagura watched in silence, listening to the screams of his fans and her song playing in the background.

Gintoki reached the fence first. He opened a gate and waved S to go through it. He was now safe behind the sturdy fence. S sighed and brushed off some dirt from his shoulder.

Kagura's attention had turned to S standing only few meters away from her. Sure she was on the stage and he was on the ground level, but still, he was right there. His light blue hair was messy, but it still looked effortlessly cool.

He wore dark gray jeans and a black loose shirt. Despite the oversized shirt, Kagura could tell his built was slender, like many dancers had.

S felt like someone was staring at him from behind, someone other than a drooling fan. He turned around and saw Kagura standing in the center of the stage, looking back at him.

Their eyes met. 

She knew who he was, he had no idea who she was. That didn't stop their eyes from digging into one another. Her deep blue eyes glued into his icy blue ones. He had contacts again, Kagura could tell.

She felt almost naked. Not because he was looking at her. It was because her moment was ruined. She was stripped from her confidence, her song, her moment.

S didn't speak, he just stared at Kagura. He didn't look like he was angry, but he wasn't sad either, he wasn't particularly anything. His whole face was deadpan, he was even harder to read than Bansai.

Kagura felt her heart beating faster under his icy gaze, it felt like he was challenging her somehow. But how could that be, he didn't know she was supposed to perform. To him, she might have looked like an announcer or a sound-checker, just a regular person.

He noticed. He wasn't stupid. 

Her outfit, the microphone, her. Nothing about her spoke to him as a regular person. So he stared at her more, not like he had anything better to do at the moment. Gintoki and all of his bodyguards were busy with keeping the fans from climbing over the fence.

Kagura felt her blood rushing through her veins. Her heart demanding more oxygen, making her breath more often.

He saw her heavily heaving chest, but did nothing to point it out. He stuffed his hands into his pockets without breaking the iron-clad eye contact.

Every member of Sugar Addicts were staring at the monitors, eyes wide open. Kagura was standing so close to him, it rose some envy in their hearts, it couldn't be helped. It felt unfair as she could never truly appreciate him being so near her.

It was only pity that overthrew the strong feeling of jealousy in their hearts. Pity for Kagura and her debut failing.

”Kawakami-nim, tell Kagura to come back here for now,” Otae demanded, using Kagura's real name in her worry.

”Gura! Can you hear me Gura?” Bansai asked.

Kagura heard them, but she felt like she couldn't move.

Otae borrowed Shinpachi's microphone. ”Kagura! Come back here now. I think it's better to call off the concert for now.”

Kagura heard Otae say the words she had been dreading for. She felt broken and defeated. Still, she didn't leave the stage. 

Kagura was 100% sure that she would have gone back to others without one thing keeping her on her spot. 

His eyes. Those demanding eyes. 

Her heart raced.

Kagura snapped out her trance like state. She realized her song was closing in the bridge*. It was the part where her vocals skills were really put under the test. The hell with it, Kagura thought. She wasn't going to let the whole concert fail because of some uninvited people appearing there.

Kagura closed her eyes and inhaled quickly. And she began to sing. The music was playing on such a low volume she had to go full a capella*.

”When will you understand,  
that time is precious.”

S kept his eyes strictly at the girl who suddenly started to sing like a songbird. Gintoki's focus went immediately to Kagura, he recognized her voice anywhere.

”I am not a child anymore,  
I'm not yours to leave.”

Her vocals went so high, it silenced everyone in the park, including the diehard fans of S. Her voice was so powerful, it easily stunned everyone in the backstage. Maybe it was the situation she was in that made her push herself even harder.

”With or without you,  
I'll rise like a sunflower.”

Kagura sang the last part of the bridge with her whole heart. Somehow Bansai snapped out of his initial awe and managed to turn the volume up. Like it was part of the song, the music rose up right in time for the chorus.

The whole audience was getting excited about the song. For a few seconds S' presence was fully forgotten. Kagura opened her eyes as she heard cheering from the people around the park. 

S was still looking at her, face as emotionless as it was before. Kagura didn't even spare a look for him, she was much more interest in looking at the smiling people in the crowd. Then the song hit its final chorus.

”My time or your time,  
it really doesn't matter,  
Is it the past or the future,  
it really doesn't matter.  
Time is still precious.”

Kagura had wrote the song together with Bansai. She poured her whole heart and soul into it, mirroring her feelings about time in to the song. 

For the last part of the song, Kagura pushed her raw emotion through her voice.

”What happened to our time?  
I don't know the answer,  
but...my time...is precious.”

Kagura ended the song, her eyes felt wet, but she didn't want to start crying in the middle of the stage. She could cry all she wanted in the backstage, now was the time to take in the applauses. Time to feel the love.

The audience was mesmerized and speechless. It had been a long time since an outstanding voice like Kagura's had been heard. Then a young man with a kind smile, lifted his fist up. ”You're amazing Gura!” 

Kagura looked at the man, he truly had the sweetest eyes she had ever seen. She gave him a nod as her humble thanks, causing his eyes to sparkle.

”Yeah!” someone yelled.

”A sunflower with the most beautiful voice ever!” another one yelled.

Kagura kept looking at the people in the audience. She almost couldn't believe how excited she made everyone feel.

”Gura, Gura, Gura...” a man began chanting from a crowd and it only took a second for everyone to join his chant. In a moment the whole park was calling her name, making it impossible for Kagura to hold back her tears.

Gintoki looked at his foster-daughter. She looked so happy and proud of herself, there was nothing he wished more than her happiness.

S felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his main bodyguard, Hijikata Toushiro, the black-haired man Gintoki had argued with. ”This is our chance to make a discreet exit,” he said.

S nodded as his answer. With Gintoki's help, the bodyguards got inside the security fairly easily. 

Kagura glared from the corner of her eye that S was leaving. She felt relief.

She wasn't a fan of his, never had been. From this day on Kagura would remember him from one thing and one thing only; he almost ruined her debut and she hoped never to see him again.

To him, she became someone he would definitely remember.

A/N:

*bridge: a musical term, is often used to contrast with and prepare fot the return of the verse and the chorus  
*a capella: singing without instrumental accompanimen


	5. Chapter 5

After the concert everyone from YE went to a chinese restaurant. Gintoki knew exactly what he was doing when he made a reservation from an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Kagura didn't remember much from her home country, but the food she had always loved. For a small girl Kagura had quite the appetite, so financially thinking a buffet was the right choice.

Everyone were talking and laughing, drinking and eating. And then there was Kagura. She was having a staring competition with her glass. She observed how the surface of the liquid vibrated when ever someone moved a little bit.

It wasn't fascinating, not even little bit, but focusing on something so trivial was the only way to keep her head cool. Kagura couldn't get the events from the concert out of her head so she desperately tried to suffocate her feelings with something else.

Usually she didn't hide her emotions, but this situation was a little tricky. She felt happy but angry, blessed but bitter, all of her feelings were confilcted in some way or the other --- how was one supposed to let all of that out? Kagura thought it would be easier to supress everything for the time being.

Kagura's trail of thoughts was halted by Gintoki's voice. He was clearing out his throat as he stood up from his seat at the end of a long table.

”Uhm, I would like to raise a glass,” he said. Everyone at the table grabbed their glasses and turned to look at their silver-haired boss.

”I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, without your efforts none of this wouldn't be possible. I hope you all feel as proud of yourselves as I do. Oh, and I want to give a shout out to our brave Gura for giving an amazing show despite the unexpected visitor in the beginning,” Gintoki said and directed a small smile for Kagura.

His little reminder caused a little bit of chuckling from the people around the table. Kagura tried too, but nothing came out. She felt how stiff her cheeks were from the fake smile she had served out all night.

Kagura really felt grateful about the concert and all the love she was recieving, but she just couldn't let go of the negative feelings eating her heart. She was angry at herself fot not being able to fully enjoy the moment. 

No-one else didn't even seem to notice how deeply she was affected by everything, by him. Kagura was either a really good actress or others were too content with their own happiness to see through her fake smile.

”Anyway, I'm so glad that the concert went well in the end! Now you all should enjoy the weekend and we start working extra hard on Monday at noon-”

”8 o'clock,” Otae corrected Gintoki with a smile.

”Ah...yes, my mistake. 8 o'clock it is,” Gintoki said and silently cried over the loss of his lazy monday morning sleep. ”Now everyone, this is for you – Geonbae*!” he said and raised his glass with everyone following his lead.

”GEONBAE!”

Kagura emptied her glass and it almost felt like she was mocking herself by doing so. The taste of her drink was pretty bland, then again it was water, what did she expect.

Luckily for Kagura the evening was coming to an end. Otae was checking with everyone if they had a way to get home safely, she especially took care of the younger girls from Sugar Addicts.

Kagura stood in front of the restaurant, tightly pulling her pink fluffy coat closer to her skin. She watched as Tsukki escaped into a cab despite Gintoki offering her a ride home.

She looked at Otae buzzing around her label mates, scolding them for having too light jackets on and what-not. She was like the mother no-one asked for but were secretly grateful for being there. 

The late night evening breeze was in the air. Kagura was happy that she had chosen proper clothing, she didn't really need anyone to smother her at the moment. 

Gintoki left to get their car and that gave Kagura a moment to just feel the fresh wind wash over her face and hair. She appraoched the sidewalk where Gintoki told her to wait for him.

Otae and Shinpachi just got into a cab of their own, leaving only the Sugar Addicts to wait for a ride home. They clearly didn't notice Kagura standing five meters away from them, but she didn't mind.

Not until she heard what they were talking about.

”Finally some peace and quiet, Otae unnie can really be annoying sometimes,” Ruby huffed, but laughed it off right away.

”Yeah, she really is like our mom,” Minty backed her sister up.

”Come on girls, now we can finally talk about...that,” Soyeon said with a voice so suggestive, even Kagura got interested.

”But not too loud, okay,” Otsu said and waved her hands slightly up and down.

Soyeon took a deep breath and her eyes sparkled with excitement. ”Can you believe,” she began and all five girl tangled their arms together. ”We actually met S.”

All five girls started to jump and scream without a sound. Kagura's eye twitched at the single letter that was his name.

The girls stopped jumping and settled to just hold their hands together. ”I'm not sure can we really say we met him,” Yunah pointed out. ”He only walked past us with his security guards.”

”I'm not going to worry about the details, because he walked right past us and I felt like fainting,” Ruby said.

”It was pretty exciting,” Otsu admitted with a glow on her cheeks.

This was all new information to Kagura. When she had returned to backstage she didn't see S anywhere, no-one said a word about him going through there. 

Kagura had assumed he just went around, because there were five fans of S in the backstage. She was sure they would have been gushing over his presence all day. Apparently they didn't say a word for some reason.

”I wanted to scream from the bottom of my heart when I saw him that close,” Minty said, drawing Kagura's attention back from her thoughts.

”But you all understand why Otae unnie told us to act like nothing happened?” Yunah asked, simlutaneously answering Kagura's question. Of course it was Otae taking care of everything behind the scenes. She must have understood how embarrassed Kagura already felt at the beginning of her song.

”Of course Yunah,” Otsu said.

”Oh please,” Soyeon said with snide voice. ”Let's not even go there, I'm too angry to talk about that.”

”What do you mean?” Otsu asked, genuinly puzzled.

Soyeon was clearly frustrated of Otsu's question. Kagura discreetly leaned closer to hear a little better the entire conversation that wasn't meant for her ears.

”As happy as I am for S walking past us, he didn't exactly look at us, right?” Soyeon stated.

”Well yes, but he was busy with getting out and-”

”That's not my point, ”Soyeon said to cut off Otsu. Minty and Ruby scratched their heads, they were equally confused as Otsu.

”You all saw it from the monitors, don't act like you didn't feel the unfairness of that moment,” Soyeon said plainly. ”He looked at Gura.”

Kagura felt shivers go down her spine. 

As much she wanted to forget it, she remembered that specific moment well. His deep stare had pierced right through her soul. In that situation it felt like he was mocking her or something.

Kagura pressed her palm against her chest. Her heart was beating faster already just by thinking about him and his dumb face. How he had almost ruined everything, how he just had stood there like nothing was wrong, it all made her blood boil.

”Jerk...” Kagura gritted behind her teeth, voice so low she wasn't sure did she even say it out loud.

Otsu swallowed. ”S-so what?”

”Frankly, she didn't dereseve it,” Soyeon blurted out.

”Soyeon!” Otsu gasped. ”You can't say that.”

”Thousands, no, millions of girls would have killed to be on her spot and all Gura could do was to give him that sour puss of a face.”

”Soyeon, that's too much,” Yunah said.

”So what, I'm just telling the truth,” Soyeon said loudly, clearly agitated. Unbeknownst to Soyeon, she wasn't the only agitated person in the same sidewalk at the moment. Kagura's fingers were twitching as she tried to digest Soyeon's words.

On top of everything else she was feeling, she was supposed to feel sorry for being on that spot and not appreciating it enough? She felt sick to her stomach.

A honk of a car drawed Kagura's attention. It was Gintoki closing in the sidewalk. Soyeon was saved by a bell, or in this case, a honk. Her words hit so hard on Kagura's feelings she was ready to confront the snotty girl.

Gintoki rolled down a window. ”Oi Kagura! Get in!”

A sound of their bosses voice startled the girls, escpecially when he called Kagura's name. All five girls turned to the cars direction and immediately saw Kagura close by.

The look in her ocean blue eyes said enough to each and every one of the girls. She had heard them and now they knew it too.

Otsu's eyes watered up right away, she didn't want to hurt her friend in anyway. She reached her hand out to Kagura's direction, but the fiery red-head rushed to the car. 

Kagura left without a word, but she left something else behind her. A single tear drop fell from her eye only to disingrate into the air by a soft gust of wind, suitably erasing all the evidence of the hurt she felt. 

Without looking back, she slammed the car door close and slumped into her seat.

Kagura wiped her eyes dry, she didn't want to evoke any questions from Gintoki.

Despite her efforts, Gintoki noticed her distress, but he didn't adress it in anyway. He waited in silence for a moment, but didn't get what he was expecting from a 18-year-old young woman to do in the situation she was in.

”Kagura,” he called.

”What?” she muttered and glared at Gintoki from the corner of her eye.

”Seatbelt,” he said calmly.

Kagura sighed in her fury and yanked the damned leather strip over her. She locked it in it's place and turned to Gintoki like an angsty teenager.

”Happy?”

”Very.”

With that, Gintoki smiled and joined back to the main road.

*  
*

Neither Kagura or Gintoki spoke during the car ride home nor when they walked the steps up to the apartment. 

By that time Kagura had calmed down quite a bit. 

She had noticed a pattern in her own behaviour whenever she was angry. In the heat of the anger she was explosive and nasty if provoked. As weird as it was, Kagura calmed down as easily as she got mad. Just a moment of peace and quiet for her mind and she was ready to unload her heart to anyone who cared to listen.

Despite her calmer mind, Kagura didn't want to start talking yet, she wasn't even entirely sure on where to begin.

Gintoki unlocked the door and Kagura followed after him to their humble home. It was still the same apartment Gintoki had when Kagura came into his life. It had a small kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and a cozy bedroom.

As Kagura had grown up Gintoki thought it would be wise to let her have the privacy young girls often needed. So Kagura got the bedroom to herself. He gladly slept in the living room with the tv at his disposal at all times. Gintoki was a surprisingly simple man.

Kagura kicked her shoes off and hung her coat on their wooden coat rack. She made her way to her room with soft steps, not even a single sound came from the wooden planks under her feet. 

Before opening the door she realized that from all of the feelings she had went throught only one was left lingering in her head.

She felt lonely, the feeling she hated the most.

Kagura couldn't talk to her friends about her feelings because they were too hung up on the whole S situation. Gintoki only seemed to care about seatbelts and food. Shinpachi, Otae, Tsukki...all had gone home happy. Who was left to help her ease her mind?

She got the feeling of being left out quite easily...and she knew very well where all of that was echoing from.

”Oi, Kagura,” Gintoki suddenly called.

Kagura jumped at his unexpected words. She turned to look at him, heart feeling a lot better just by hearing Gintoki's voice. ”What?”

Gintoki hung his black jacket on the rack and sat down to take his shoes off. ”I just wanted to let you know that you did a really great job today kiddo,” Gintoki said with his back facing her.

Kagura felt her eyes itching from his words, she really needed to hear that. She needed to remember that she had people around her, people that cared. Kagura wanted to run to him and give him a big hug, but before she could do so, Gintoki wasn't done talking.

Without turning around he spoke again. ”I bet you have a lot on your mind right now and I'm pretty sure you want to talk about it, right?”

Kagura chuckled just a little, she couldn't fool him with fake smiles. ”I think I do A-Gin.”

Gintoki stood up and casually walked towards their kitchen. As he passed by Kagura Gintoki patted on her head softly. She frowned a little at the playful gesture and shook his hand off her head. 

Gintoki went to the kitchen with a hidden smile on his face. There he poured himself a glass of strawberry milk, an essence only the chosen people could consume, also known as people without taste buds.

He turned to look at Kagura who was patiently standing in front of her door, thinking about what she wanted to talk about first.

”Go to sleep Kagura,” Gintoki said.

”Huh? But...I thought-”

Gintoki waved his hand towards her. ”We'll talk tomorrow, a growing child needs to rest.”

Kagura puffed out her cheeks to a quietly snickering Gintoki. ”I'm not a child anymore...I'm a blossoming young woman,” she said and flicked her hair from habit.

”Well, why do I need to remind you of your bedtime if you aren't a child?”

Kagura rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop a smile from taking over her pink lips. Gintoki hummed to himself, that sweet smile was his goal all along.

”Good night then geezer,” she slurred.

”Heh, I hope you feel better in the morning,” Gintoki said casually and went to prepare his bed. ”Good night!”

Kagura went to her room with a lighter mind. She didn't bother to undress before she crashed on her bed. Kagura didn't even have the energy to unfold her thoughts on her own because the pillow felt just too soft against her cheek.

Maybe Gintoki knew exactly what she needed because in a few seconds the girl was sound to sleep. She wasn't bothered by the full moon's light beaming in from her small window. She wasn't bothered by the night traffic or someone muttering the word geezer quietly in the living room.

A/N:

*Geonbae: ”Cheers” in Korean


	6. Chapter 6

The morning sun rose, filling Kagura's bedroom with a warm light. Luckily she was a heavy sleeper so light wasn't something that could wake her up. Still, there was something unfamiliar with this morning.

Her eye lids were heavy but she drowzily opened her eyes. ”Hmm...what...?” she mumbled in her half-asleep state. 

Kagura pushed herself up to sit on her knees. She rubbed her eyes with full devotion, accidentally smudging what ever was left of her make-up all over her face.

Kagura let her hands drop to her lap as a loud yawn came out of her mouth. Then she happened to glance down, she noticed she still had her concert clothes on. The red off-shoulder shirt and black skirt.

”Right...”

Before she could undress herself, she heard voices. Surprisingly loud voices. Kagura jumped off the bed and made her way to her door. The voices were coming from the living-room.

Kagura opened the door in her curiosity. First she saw Gintoki walking back and fort while talking to his phone. He had dark circles under his eyes, it got Kagura wondering had he slept at all last night.

”Good morning Kagura!” a gentle voice came from the living-room.

Kagura saw Otae and Shinpachi sitting face-to-face around their tiny coffee table. The table itself could barely be seen as it was full of stuff like notebooks, coffee cups and a laptop. Shinpachi sat on the floor and Otae was on the couch.

”Ah, morning,” Kagura said with a sleepy voice as she shut the door to her room. ”What is going on?”

”I can't really promise anything right away, but I'm sure we can figure something out,” Gintoki spoke to the phone, his tone was a tiny bit agitated. He didn't even look where he was going as Kagura had to skip away from his way.

”Come here Kagura, let's give Gintoki some time to handle the phone calls,” Otae said and patted the empty spot on the couch for Kagura to sit down.

She sat down and scrathed her head. Before Kagura could ask why Shinpachi and Otae were there on a Saturday morning, a phone started to ring. It was Otae's.

She snatched a notebook with her and stepped away for a moment to take the call.

Shinpachi was so engaged with his laptop that Kagura doubted had he even noticed she was there.

”Oi Pattsuan, what is going on? Why are you and Otae unnie here?”

”Good morning Kagura!” Shinpachi said with kind voice and straightened his oval glasses with one finger.

”Yeah yeah. Did you hear my question?”

”I did,” he simply replied and kept on typing with the computer. Kagura felt like she wasn't going to get a real answer from Shinpachi, so she gave up on bothering him. Why the hell is he being so mysterious all of a sudden, Kagura thought to herself.

Everyone seemed to be so busy. Normally Gintoki would ignore all work things on his free days, so something really serious must've been going on. 

Kagura hoped it wasn't about her lackluster performance yesterday. Despite getting cheers and appalauses, Kagura wasn't that proud of herself. She only performed the last part of the song and didn't even dance the choreography she trained so hard to perfect.

She still felt conflicted, not allowing herself to enjoy the good things.

Before Kagura could entirely succumb to her negativity, Shinpachi leaned back from his laptop to look at her. 

”We're here because of you.”

Kagura's eyes widened. ”Me? What did I do?”

”Well, after yesterday's concert,” Shinpachi began. As soon as he mentioned the concert, her heart felt heavier. Had everything gone so bad that Gin-A couldn't get off the phone on a Saturday morning, she thought her eyes dropped down to her lap.

Shinpachi noticed her stiff demeanor. He couldn't feel any better about the fact that he was going to be the one to tell her that there was nothing to worry about. Au contraire actually. 

”Kagura, you've gone viral.”

Kagura lifted her eyes to meet with Shinpachi's. ”What?”

Shinpachi pointed at his laptop. ”Come and see for yourself.”

He made room for Kagura to take his place. She felt her palms getting sweaty just by thinking about the word viral. There were so many ways to get to that point. It could be something horrible or something ridiculous.

Or something wonderful.

Shinapchi had opened up multiple tabs for her to look at. There were different news sites and blogs for her to look at. Kagura couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the screen.

”A new sensational voice has entered the k-pop scene!”

”A hidden talent emerges from the brand new record label!”

”Gura will be on everyone's lips soon enough.”

Those were only some of the headlines Kagura read and there were many more left. Her stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies, a tingling feeling that spread across her skin.

Otae returned to the table with a smile on her face.

Shinpachi looked at his sister. ”Another one?” he asked.

”Yes, another one indeed.”

Even Gintoki appeared to be phone free for a second as he came to stand next to Kagura. He seemed happy but very exhausted.

”I told you yesterday, didn't I?” Gintoki said and pocked Kagura's shoulder.

She lifted her eyes from the laptop. The white screen from the computer reflected brightly from her wet eyes. Gintoki's expression softened at Kagura's vulnerable state, deep gratidute practically oozing from her deep blue hue.

”Told me what?”

”That you did good.”

Without a further pause, Gintoki's phone rang again and his smile tightened into a strict line. He picked up the call and went to the kitchen.

”He's been up for four hours just to take those calls in,” Otae said.

Kagura's mouth gaped open, no wonder he had dark circles. She took a quick look at the time, it was only 11 am.

”Are you saying he's really been up for that long?” Kagura asked.

”Yes, he managed to call me in between calls for help,” Otae explained. ”All the calls he can't answer are directed to me via his voice mail.”

”Ane-ue woke me up too and I've been scavenging the web for information ever since morning.”

Kagura felt embarrased for just sleeping through all of it, she must have been able to help in some way.

”Why didn't you wake me up?”

”You must've been exhausted from yesterday, so we decided to let you sleep,” Otae said.

Kagura puffed her cheeks. That might have been true, but that didn't take away the lazy feeling she had. ”I guess I get it, but what are all these calls about?”

Otae opened up her notebook and took a quick look at it. ”Most of them are people requesting interviews, invitations to events, things like that.”

”Are all of them asking for me?” Kagura asked.

”Pretty much, some were asking for all of our idols to make appearances, but mostly you,” Otae said.

Kagura jumped up from the floor and covered her mouth with her hands. She felt the excitement all over her body. The hair in the back of her neck all stood up. Is this real, she asked herself.

”I think you impacted a lot of people with your voice Kagura.” Otae's words were filled with joy and she truly spoke from the heart. She knew precicesly how powerful Kagura's voice was.

Tears blurred Kagura's vision for a moment. She was so happy that her heart was ready to jump out of her chest. Kagura hurried to Otae and jumped on to the couch to hug her. Otae giggled as Kagura wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.

Face burried in Otae's lap and feet kicking the air, Kagura shouted out her emotions through a muffled sound. Otae and Shinpachi smiled even wider at the pure reaction. Gintoki observed the situation from a distance, trying his hardest to end the calls and join the celebration.

Shinpachi checked something from his computer, his eyebrows rose up. ”Well look at that, Gura is trending in twitter.”

Kagura looked at Shinpachi from Otae's lap. ”You're kidding, yes.”

”Well, come and see for yourself then,” Shinpachi said pointed at his laptop.

Kagura rolled off the couch and and crawled next to Shinpachi. She leaned hastily towards the screen and there it was: 

#oursunflowergura

”You gotta be kidding me,” Kagura gasped in disbelief.

”I'll get back to you later, thank you very much,” Gintoki said to a caller and ended the conversation there.

He sighed deeply and made his way to the living-room. ”Shinpachi, I can't do this anymore,” Gintoki said and wiggled his phone in his hand like it was poisonous.

”What do you want me to do about it?” Shinpachi asked.

”Make the calls stop.” Gintoki said and threw the phone into the young mans way. He barely catched it from mid-air and cocked an eyebrow.

”Do you want me to turn the power off or what are you talking about?”

”Yes, I don't care, just make it quiet,” Gintoki said and slumped his body on the couch. It felt so good to finally sit down.

”Why don't you do it yourself?” Shinpachi asked with a slightly higher pitch in his voice.

Gintoki grew quiet. ”Don't tell me you forgot again,” Shinpachi said and got up form the floor with an amused look all over his face.

”No...I didn't forget.”

Otae and Kagura both tried their very best to suffocate any laughter.

”You are hopeless with technology Gintoki...but I'll show you one more time.”

Kagura kept smiling as she watched Gintoki's grumpy face as he was educated about the basic use of a smartphone, once again. Then she focused back on the computer.

The whole social media was apparently gushing about her and the Yorozuya Entertainment. Naturally she was hungry for more and began to go through different fanblogs.

It didn't take long for Kagura to go completely silent. That sprakling smile was long gone as she stared at a specific article. She figured it was just some loud mouth writing their dumb opinion for all people to read.

Kagura searched for more information about the concert and she stumbled upon a blog with a video from the event. Sure the clip was partly about her, but that wasn't the main point in the video. Kagura pressed play with her eye twitching with annoyance.

Everyone else in the living room turned to look at the laptop as they recognized Kagura's song playing in there, the audio wasn't the greatest quality, telling of its amateur source.

”Oh you found a video,” Otae said with a smile. ”I still get goosebumps when I hear that part.”

Otae didn't get any response from Kagura, so she joined Gintoki and Shinpachi with their puzzled expressions. 

”Are you okay Kagura?” Gintoki asked.

”You look sort of...angry?” Shinpachi pointed out.

Kagura remained silent untill the end of the video. There were her appalauses, but she didn't get a rush out of them, her attention was somewhere else entirely. When the video hit its ending, Kagura slowly looked up.

”What the hell is this?”

Shinpachi got up, silently suspecting that maybe someone had made a funny edit of her performance. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, an edit would have been something Kagura could have a laugh at.

Kagura presented the blog for Shinpachi with a sharp motion of her hand. Shinpachi took a closer look at the page.

”This is a fan blog for S,” he stated.

”Yeah, exactly! What the hell is my performance doing here?” Kagura asked. Her breathing was clearly rapid and loud, it was like she was dynamite about to go off.

”Well, what does the blog say?” Gintoki asked and crossed his arms.

Kagura was too disheveled to read anything so Shinpachi decided to take over.

”Out of the blue our precious boy S came to enjoy a free concert at Syringa Park and I happened to be nearby, uwu*. I even got a video of him going through the crowd, I don't understand why some of the fans don't understand the meaning of personal space.”

”Now I don't usually talk about female idols here, but I have to give a shout out to the girl performing when S was there. I think her name was Gura. I actually can't wait to hear more about her in the future...”

Shinpachi stopped reading aloud up to that point. ”The rest is mostly about this S.”

Everyone turned to look at Kagura with even more puzzled faces.

”Right?!” Kagura huffed.

Gintoki scratched his messy hair. ”I don't understand what's the problem here?”

Kagura rolled her eyes and sighed sharply.

”I don't get it either Kagura,” Otae affirmed.

Kagura was baffled that it wasn't crystal clear for the rest of the world. ”I don't want to be connected to him! Like, not even a little bit!”

Gintoki and Otae exchanged looks. ”Why not?” Shinpachi asked.

Why not indeed...that was a good question. Luckily Kagura had the perfect answer ready.

”Because he is a smug bastard and I don't like that kind of people,” Kagura grunted. ”And let's not forget the most awful part about him; he almost ruined my performance by making his stupid appearance.”

Gintoki leaned back on the couch, he was left thoughtful after Kagura's words.

”I don't think the concert was ruined by him,” Otae bravely pointed out to the sensitive girl.

”I said almost,” she snapped.

Shinpachi patted Kagura's shoulder to get her attention. ”But that's just one blog connecting you two, you have nothing to worry-”

”Hah! I'm glad you asked!” Kagura shouted and snatched the laptop back to her. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she smashed the buttons like everything was their fault. Shinpachi sent out a silent prayer for the endurance of his expensive computer.

After a short while Kagura offered the device back to Shinpachi. ”Look!”

And Shinpachi looked. It was a news article about the concert. ”Even Ω mega's pretty boy S came to take a look at the singing powerhouse called Gura,” Shinpachi read.

”Yup,” Kagura simply said and clicked on the next tab.

”S spotted at a concert, but he only listened one song from the new idol, Gura,” Shinpachi read again.

”And these just keep going,” Kagura said with a voice much quieter than before, she clearly wasn't just angry, she felt a little defeated.

Gintoki inhaled deeply and leaned up to rest his elbows on his knees. ”How many of the articles, posts and writings are connecting you to him?”

Kagura looked into Gintoki's deep maroon eyes. ”Well I looked up close to a dozen articles...they all mention him.”

”Really?” Otae asked, but her question wasn't meant to worsen the situation. She had something else on her mind.

”Yeah...it's like I'm not even worth mentioning without adding him there!”

”Oh come on, there must be some articles that are just about you and YE,” Shinpachi said and started to type something with the laptop.

”Okay, here's something about-” but Shinpachi stopped talking abruptly.

Kagura tried to look at the screen but Shinpachi tried to discreetly hide it from her. That only piqued her curiosity. ”What did you find Pattsuan?”

”Uh, nothing...it's nothing.” The hinder in Shinpachi's voice gave him away right then and there. Gintoki gave himself a soft face palm, anything too sensational in the blogs would only worsen Kagura's state of mind..

”Show me!” Kagura demanded and tried to violently reach for the laptop.

”Stop it! I-I wrote your names wrong! It's nothing that important!”

Kagura managed to wrestle the laptop to herself and she hissed at Shinpachi like a cat. Kagura suspected it was someone trashing her song on some silly blog that Shinpachi tried to hide, but no, it wasn't anything that mellow.

Kagura just read the text on the screen without really thinking about it. ”S went to see his secret girlfriend's concert!” 

Kagura went staright up speecheless for a second. Her eyes stood frozen, glued to look only at the words she read.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Who an earth was writing such ridiculous gossip?

Shinpachi gulped and tried to defuse Kagura with soothing words. ”I mean it's a gossip column Kagura...so don't take it too-”

”THAT'S IT!” Kagura shouted and whisked the computer into Shinpachi's lap. She got up from the floor and dashed into her room with nothing but anger in her mind.

Gintoki and Otae exchanged looks again. Shinpachi noticed they were agreeing about something important.

”Do you want to share your thought with me too?” he asked.

Otae was a PR person, so it was her job to search for opportunities to get good press. Gintoki wasn't stupid and as a bussiness man, he saw the situation exactly like Otae.

”We have to take advantage of the situation,” Otae put it simply.

”I agree, as much as Kagura is going to hate it, the company needs this.” Gintoki stated. ”I'll explain everything to her after she calms down.”

*  
*

Kagura had gone into her room like an angry wasp. She had jumped right back into her bed and tried her best to forget everything she had read. Maybe she was still tired from yesterday or from everything she learned earlier, but she quickly fell back to sleep.

Hours passed by quickly. Finally her long nap was disturbed by a soft knock on her door.

”Kagura?” a voice asked behind the door.

A undescribable combination of a moan and grunt was Kagura's answer.

”Are you awake?”

Kagura opened her eyes, but only narrowly. Her body felt like she had been sleeping for days. It took a moment for her to even understand what time it was. The clock on her night stand claimed it was already 18pm.

Gintoki opened up the door slightly to check on Kagura's state. Her eyes stood empty, hair much messier than Gintoki's ever could be.

”Hmm...maybe the right question would be; are you alive?” Gintoki joked and entered the room.

Kagura took a look at Gintoki. ”What day is it?” she asked and wiggled herself to sit up.

Gintoki laughed a little. ”It's still Saturday silly.”

”Okay...”Kagura mumbled and rubbed her eyes lazily. Gintoki sat in the end of her bed, patiently waiting for the girl to fully wake up.

After the blurry feeling faded away from Kagura's head there was no question about what was the first thing that returned to her. Her expression was serious and glum.

”Are you ready to talk now?”

Kagura glanced at her father figure. ”Uh-huh...”

”Let's begin then, why were you so sad yesterday?” Gintoki wanted to get straight into bussiness, he wanted Kagura to tell him anything and everything she thought about the concert and the aftermath.

She remained silent for a second, figuring out how to put everything into words. ”I felt embarrased,” she simply said.

”Why is that?”

”I chocked up...I got so confused when the audience started to react to that guy showing up...”

”You mean S?”

”Yes,” her lips tightened into a strict line and her voice got a lot colder as his name came into play.

”But everything went so well in the end. Why weren't you happy about that?”

”I was happy...I really was, but then, after everyone else got to perform flawlessly without interruptions – I guess I got a little jealous...you know.”

Gintoki hummed, he could see why she felt that way.

Kagura clenched one of her fists. ”But the thing that pisses me off that from every single idol out there, it had to be him to pop up there.”

”I didn't know you disliked him so much.”

”Well now you know, yes.”

”Why is that?”

”Because he is stupid.”

”Stop being a brat Kagura and tell me what's really on your mind.” Gintoki's voice remained calm despite his scolding. It all came from a good place and Kagura knew it.

”Fine...” she huffed. ”I didn't have anything against him before the concert, I just wasn't as big of a fan as everybody else.”

Gintoki's eyebrows rose. ”Who do you mean by everybody?”

”Well like everyone from Sugar Addicts...they were even talking about me behind my back. It was right after the buffet, they were gushing about S being there. They staright out said I didn't deserve it.”

”Of crouse you didn't...no-one deserves to be interrupted in-mid song.”

”That's not what they meant,” Kagura said and looked at Gintoki who wasn't quite following. ”They meant I didn't deserve to be so near him.”

”Oh...because you're not a fan of his.”

”Exactly.”

”Why would you let something so immature get to you?”

Kagura pondered his question. He was certainly right, but also he wasn't a young girl who got easily judged by her peers. ”I don't know A-Gin.”

”Hmm..well I think I understand now why you went ballistic with those articles,” Gintoki said, putting aside his previous question.

”That's pretty much it...and...” Kagura stopped her sentence suddenly. It was like the next thing was a bit harder to say out loud.

”And...what?”

Kagura had been blaming S for almost two days. It was very easy to just hate him and blame him, but under it all, there was something else looming.

”I mean...I'm just very disappointed at myself, yes.”

”Why? Your name is on every fan blog there is and that parrot site.”

Kagura giggled soundlessly. ”You mean twitter A-Gin...” He just waved his hand like the premature geezer he was. It sure felt good to correct someone else for a change as she was often the one to be corrected.

”Why are you dissappointed?”

”I mean,” Kagura began and folded her legs into a yoga pose. ”I didn't have to stay quiet. I could have just started to sing...or I could have run to Pattsuan and Kawakami-nim to tell them to replay the song.”

Gintoki nodded at her words.

”I guess I just got so confused about everything.”

”You weren't the only one, I think Shinapchi and Bansai both froze up a little, not to mention Otae and myself. No-one was expecting anything like this.”

”Mmh...and after all this...it makes me really angry that my name is thrown along with that stupid mystey man's.”

”S'?”

”Yes him!” Kagura agreed with a frustrated voice. Why wasn't Gintoki understanding that she didn't want to say his boring unoriginal name.

”But he is very succesfull, very famous too. Why is that bad?”

”Because I don't want to ride on someone elses coattail!” Kagura blurted out. Gintoki nodded, he suspected he had hit the core of her problems. Saying it aloud gave Kagura some clarity as well.

”But you aren't doing that Kagura. You were the one singing and getting the attention in the end, not him.”

”Well...maybe at the concert, but the news are all about S,” Kagura made sure she slurred his name out with a dumb voice.

”You know Kagura...these kinds of opportunities don't come too often for new idols.”

Kagura played with her fingers nervously, what an earth did he have on his mind. ”What opportunities?”

”You've been associated with a huge idol and I think we should take advantage of that.”

Kagura pressed her fist against her blanket. ”I just said I don't want to ride on someone elses name! I want to make it big on my own!”

”That's an admirable goal, but a naïve one.”

His words were harsh and she wasn't having any of it. ”I don't care about if it is naïve or not, that's just what I want, yes.”

”Kagura, I hope you understand that this is showbussiness and this is our livelyhood right now,” Gintoki didn't probably mean to sound so threatening as he came off, but he was once again right.

”I-I do...”

”I don't want to force you to do anything, but I think we should take advantage of this moment. It's like a fast way to push you towards the top.”

”But it feels like cheating...”

”I guess it kinda is, but I didn't make the rules for this game.”

Kagura thought about his words for a second. Why the hell it had to be him, she asked herself. If it was anyone else, she wouldn't care so much. Why was he getting under her skin, she didn't even know him.

She remembered his eyes well. She hadn't ever seen an expression like that. He didn't speak, but he had a weird effect on her just by looking at her. Why him?

”How are we going to use this opportunity? What do you have in mind?” Kagura asked just to get S out of her head as fast as possible.

”I don't know are you agreeing or not, but it's nothing too huge. Just a small video clip to give us more media attention, but nothing to harm S' reputation.”

”Okay...”

”Are you agreeing to do this?”

”Well you're my boss, so how can I say no,” Kagura almost joked.

”I wouldn't use that card with you and you know that. I'm just making a fair case here.”

”I know...and I say let's do this,” she said and smiled a little. Thou it felt like ”cheating” it felt sort of exciting. The video clip could birth great opportunities for her and the YE.

Gintoki sighed from relief, but Kagura wasn't quite done yet.

”I have three conditions.”

”Ah, negotiation. Do tell.”

Kagura rose up one finger. ”One: from this point forward, I want us to focus on building up our fame by ourselves.”

”Naturally we will.”

Another finger went up. ”Two: for our next concert I want tighter security, no-more un-invited idols at out concerts.” Gintoki couldn't help but laugh, he knew she was only kidding...maybe...

After flipping the third finger up briefly, Kagura balled her hand into fist ”And finally number three: I want everybody to know that I still don't like him.”

”Is that going to be your next single?”

”Who knows,” she shrugged nonchalantly.

”Well I think there's no need to aim for you to be collaborating or anything, so I think you're good to go,” Gintoki said.

”Yeah, I just ignore his excistence completely, yes.” 

Gintoki smiled and got up from the bed. ”I'm glad you agreed to this.”

”I guess it's the smart thing to do.”

Gintoki nodded. ”Now let's leave work things at that and move our focus to dinner.”

”Is it ramen night again?”

”You got it,” Gintoki said as he exited the room.

Kagura got up from her bed, she couldn't wait to get out of her dirty clothes. The smell wasn't that pretty after one sweaty concert and many hours of sleep. She picked up a red oversized shirt to wear as a dress.

She sturggled to get her tight hair buns open. Many tears and curse words later Kagura's brush was going smoothly along her long hair. Then, weirdly enough, she found herself thinking about S.

Sure, he was the reason everything didn't go perfectly, but also he was the cause of a lot other things. He brought the bloggers, the paparazzi and a whole bunch of potential fans with him. He really elevated the concert on another level just by being there.

As hard it was for Kagura to admit, S being there wasn't all bad. Maybe she should cut him some slack in that regard, but one things was for sure. Kagura would never thank him for being there, never.

A/N:

*uwu: it's a written smiley face


	7. Chapter 7

”You want me to do what?” Kagura asked eyes wider than ever, silently praying she had misunderstood something.

Gintoki and Otae stood behind a video camera with calm smiles. Kagura stared at them for an answer from the other side of the camera, hands clenching on a thin stack of papers.

After careful consideration, Gintoki and Otae had come up with the perfect way to use the ”S” hype for the company's advantage. Gintoki had gathered all of his idols together to their dancing studio to shoot a video message for the whole world to see.

Everyone had white t-shirts with the Yorozuya Entertainment's symbol on them. It was a simple design with the letters Y and E written in graffiti style.

”Didn't you read the script Gura?” Gintoki asked with his eyebrows frowning a little.

”Well...of course I did.”

No she didn't. Kagura got the script earlier that morning just like everyone else, but she didn't think it was nothing she couldn't wing on the spot when the camera was rolling.

”Then why are you so surprised?” Gintoki inquired, knowing very well that she was full of it.

Kagura felt multiple pairs of eyes staring at her from behind. She was surrounded by Sugar Addicts with Eli & Zura standing behind them. Maybe it would have been smart to read it, Kagura admitted to her annoyance.

She shook her head to get herself together. ”Anyway...I'm still not going to say this...” Kagura said and quickly re-read her lines from the script. ”Nope...not gonna happen.”

Soyeon inhaled deeply only to exhale intentionally loudly. Kagura glared at her from the corner of her eye. She still hadn't talked to any of the five girls after everything that took place outside of the restaurant.

Otsu stood on Kagura's left side. She hated the fact she hadn't had the change to apologize and to make sure Kagura was alright.

”Sakata-nim!” Soyeon chirped with her sugar-coated voice.

”What is it?”

”I don't have a problem with taking Gura's spot.”

Kagura's eyes popped wide open, her nostrils flared up. She slowly turned to look at Soyeon without a word. Their eyes met and the tension went through the roof.

”Uh-huh...of course you wouldn't,” Kagura said with clenched jaw.

”Cut that out!” Gintoki commanded, only to be completely ignored by the two momentarily deaf girls. 

Yunah gave a strict look at the maknae* of the group, she didn't like to waste time on meaningless fighting. Otsu called for Kagura and tried to peacefully get her attention.

Before the situation got out of hand, Otae took action. She clapped her hands together once, causing a loud noise to bounce around the dancing studio's walls. Gone was that healing smile of hers, replaced by an eerily disappointed expression.

”Girls,” she said, drawing Kagura and Soyeon to look at her. ”What do you think you are doing?” Otae's tone made the hair on Kagura's neck rise up.

Kagura looked up to Otae like a little sisters. She had confidence, posture and inner strength Kagura thrived to have. She was just like Gintoki, an important person Kagura didn't want to disappoint.

Soyeon didn't have the same kind of bond with Otae as Kagura, so she hardly wavered at their unnie's glare. ”I was merely making a suggestion to help,” she said.

Kagura gritted her teeth a little. Soyeon was getting under her skin easier than she should be able to.

”Be quiet Soyeon and both of you stop disrespecting your boss,” Otae snapped and silenced the entire room.

Gintoki knew how scary Otae was when she got mad, he had seen it a couple of times (sometimes he was on the receiving end of her wrath and there was nothing funny about that). ”How about we all just calm down and take a deep breath, ne?” Gintoki suggested and inhaled as an example.

Kagura did as he said and took in the deepest breath she had ever taken. As she exhaled the irritation cooled down. Gintoki waited patiently for Soyeon to breath out as he had instructed. After she finally managed to do so, Gintoki turned his focus back to the video shoot. ”Now, listen carefully,” he began with a calm voice. ”The whole point in this is that Gura is the one presenting the message.”

Kagura understood why, she just didn't know how she was going to deliver her lines like she meant them.

”Do you all understand the concept and the meaning of this video?” Gintoki asked, receiving nods from everyone, even Soyeon. He looked at Kagura who quietly stood on her spot, carefully folding the script in her hands.

”Gura, are you ready to begin?”

”Fine, let's get this over with,” Kagura finally agreed and whisked the script away from her hands. She knew her lines now, she didn't like them, but that didn't matter.

Maybe it was Soyeon's oppressive words that pushed Kagura into the mood she was in right now. She was ready and willing to be the professional she was supposed to be, pushing aside her personal feelings.

”Alright,” Gintoki said and moved to the camera. A clear sound of recording came out of the device and it was go time.

With only happy thoughts in her head, Kagura pulled out the most beautiful smile she could do.

”Hello everyone! My name is Gura!” Kagura started.

”I'm Yunah, I'm Ruby, I'm Minty, I'm Otsu, I'm Soyeon - and together we are Sugar Addicts!”

”I'm Zura and this is Eli!”

”And we are from Yorozuya Entertainment!” everyone said together, a miraculous act without a lot of practice. Luckily Otae was helping everyone with pacing from behind the camera.

”It was our honor and joy to have so many of you to attend our concert at Syringa park,” Yunah said and bowed.

”We hope that you will support us in the future and enjoy our music,” Zura added and bowed with Eli.

Kagura took in a sharp breath. ”And I want to say special thanks to the super talented S for coming to see our concert,” Kagura chirped, pretty much stunning everyone in the room in the process, but she wasn't done yet.

Kagura channeled her inner aegyo* and went with it. She tilted her head and rested her chin gently on her slightly connected fingers. ”Thank you oppa*!” she said with the most adorable voice imaginable and as cherry on top of it all she winked at the camera.

For a short while no-one spoke a word. Kagura disarmed her aegyo and returned back to her normal state. Otae started to motion with her hands for everyone to continue the script.

Everyone bowed once more, followed by waving hands and wide smiles. ”Byeee!” came as a sweet choir, ending the video just as planned.

Gintoki stopped the recording. Next step was to give the clip to Shinpachi for editing, then it was ready to be published.

”Well...” Gintoki said and glanced at the group of idols. ”That exceeded all of my expectations.”

”That went very well indeed,” Otae agreed.

Gintoki looked directly at Kagura, who seemed to be quite unaffected by the whole video. It was weird, considering how unwilling she was at the beginning. ”I don't know where did you pull that one out Gura,” he appraised.

”Thanks Sakata-nim!”

Gintoki snorted a little. ”Oppa...that wasn't even in the script.”

”Okay, let's take a lunch break for now,” Otae announced.

Kagura exhaled deeply, it was finally over. Before she could leave for lunch, Kagura had one thing she wanted to do first.

Soyeon saw as Kagura turned to look at her.

”No replacement needed,” Kagura snarled and leaned a bit closer to Soyeon. ”That's how it's done.”

Soyeon didn't flinch at Kagura's words, thou she secretly admitted that it was quite the mic drop what Kagura did.

Kagura walked away from Soyeon and everyone else, making her way to the door of the dance studio. Now it was time for some well deserved lunch.

*  
*

The thank you video was the perfect continuation for the live concert. Tought Gintoki had wanted the attention for his label, he still cried a little when his phone wouldn't stop ringing. ”It's the devil's spawn calling me again,” became sort of his catchphrase.

Cosmos Records, the label that S worked for actually reacted to the thank you video. On their official social media account they shared the video and wished for the best to their rivaling company and its artists. The gesture was a rare one that many companies didn't get.

Otae and Gintoki had successfully managed to harness the ”Gura-hype” to their advantage. Even Kagura saw all the positive effects coming from the video, thou she cringed heavily every time she saw it anywhere.

After the video every idol was assigned to their next project. For Kagura it was to work on new songs with Bansai and to start planning a concept for her first music video.

Kagura met up with Bansai to discuss about her ideas. He was a musical genius, a music machine really. Every idea Kagura threw at him, he came up with a perfect composition or a fitting lyric to match.

Kagura's debut single wasn't that upbeat, so she wanted to focus on making different kind of songs and what ever Kagura envisioned, Bansai delivered.

They truly were a match made in music heaven.

Within a week Kagura and Bansai had planned out five new songs. The recording was scheduled to start right after the music video shoot.

The entire concept for the music video was Kagura's own idea. Tsukki helped with the outfits and everything seemed to perfectly fall in place.

The evening before her video shoot, Kagura spent some quality time at home. She lounged on their couch watching tv, wearing pink bunny pajamas and munching her favourite treat; sukonbu*. 

Gintoki emerged from the bathroom in his blue strawberry pajamas. He made his way to the couch/his bed and stared at Kagura, who was comfortably laying on her belly, feet dangling in the air.

”Scoot over Kagura,” he yawned and poked the girl's sole. Despite his plea, Kagura's eyes never left the tv screen and she sucked in another strip of sukonbu.

”Oi, I want to get to bed already, it's getting late,” Gintoki said in his grumpy voice. Kagura looked at the man from the corner of her eye. He looked like he could just close his eyes and fall asleep on his feet.

”Gimme a minute A-Gin, this episode is almost over,” Kagura said and returned her attention to the small screen.

”Fine,” Gintoki agreed and casually grabbed Kagura's ankles. She didn't protest as he lifted her halfway up from the couch to make room for himself to sit down. Gintoki dropped her feet unceremoniously to rest over his lap.

Gintoki used to watch a lot of tv with Kagura, but nowadays he didn't get that much free time. He felt a little sad that he had no idea what show was running on their tv at the moment.

”Is this another one of those dramas you like to watch?” Gintoki asked.

”Uh-huh,” she hummed. ”It's about a girl who falls in love with the biggest douchebag.”

”Aren't all the dramas like that?”

”Pretty much,” Kagura snorted.

”Why do you like to watch them then?”

”Because those silly girls make me laugh”, Kagura answered plainly. ”I try to understand what they see in those guys but I'm still not getting it.”

Gintoki went quiet for a second after Kagura's words. He chuckled silently and shook his head. Kagura didn't even notice his reaction at first, until -

”That's young love.”

Kagura turned around, eyes wide like plates. Him talking about love so suddenly, that was strange.

”Young...love?”

”Yeah, it makes people do crazy things,” Gintoki said.

Kagura flipped herself over and sat up to look at Gintoki properly. His eyes seemed like they were wandering somewhere far away - somewhere unknown to her.

”A-Gin..?” she called.

”Hm?” he answered as he snapped out if this deep thoughts.

”Do you wanna tell me something?” Kagura asked, eyes sparkling with pure curiosity.

”It's a long story, but I can tell you a little bit,” Gintoki said. ”But after this you go to bed – deal?”

”Yeah yeah, deal.”

Gintoki's shoulders relaxed, but he kept toying with his fingers as he started his tale of this young love.

”When I was 16, still living in the country side and being carefree, I met a woman...a woman who changed my life completely. She was my age, beautiful and confident. She charmed me the second I laid my eyes her.”

”We dated for two years, I was planning on proposing to her and everything.” Kagura felt her eyes getting dry, she was so focused she forgot to blink. Never in a million years did Kagura expect anything like this from his story.

”One day everything changed. She got a job offer from Seoul as a news anchor, it was her dream job. I was really excited for her, but the cold truth was that we were poor. So poor that we didn't have the money to move.”

”The channel offered her train tickets and I think she had a friend in the city who offered a place to stay. I was sad, really sad...and so was she. Despite that, I didn't want to hold her back in achieving her dreams, so I made a promise.”

”I promised to collect enough money to come after her, she assured that I didn't have to do that for her...but I would've fetched the moon from the sky for her. Young men are like that, taking advantage of every moment to be chivalrous or something.” 

”After she left, I worked really hard.”

”There aren't many big shot jobs in the country side so it took me over two years to get everything together. During that time we sent letters to each other.”

”Letters?” Kagura interrupted. ”Why you didn't call or text?”

”This was over ten years ago Kagura. I didn't have a cellphone and the only computer in the village was in the public library.”

”Oh...now I understand why modern technology repels your brain.”

Gintoki rolled his eyes like she wasn't 100% correct. ”Anyway, the letters grew fewer over time. Sometimes I sent 5 letters and she sent one, it's alarming when I think about it now, but at that time...I was madly in love with her.”

”So I packed up my life and finally went to Seoul, I even announced it in my most recent letters to her. Of course she didn't answer it, but I didn't mind.” 

”I knew the channel where she got the job, so I searched for the building. By dumb luck, she was there in the lobby with her co-workers. I called her name – it took her a while before she truly understood who was calling for her. Her boyfriend - or at least that's what I had believed for the past years.”

Kagura clenched her fists on her pajama bottoms as Gintoki's story continued to take a turn for the worst.

”We went to have a cup of coffee to catch up. I told her about my life and all the savings I managed to make. It started to worry me because she wasn't really that excited or happy. She was literally squirming in her seat.”

”Then she told me the thing she should have said from moment she knew it...she had moved on. She had a new life, new friends...new man.”

”WHAT?” Kagura huffed loudly.

Gintoki turned to look at Kagura's shocked face. ”Yeah, wasn't I naïve and pathetic,” he almost laughed.

”I...I...what a bit-!”

”Stop it.” Gintoki's brows frowned with his words. ”Where have you learned such foul words..?” He asked and scratched his silver hair.

”But A-Gin...aren't you angry at her?”

Gintoki placed his hands behind his head. ”Maybe I was, it was such a long time ago.”

”I know I would've been,” Kagura grunted.

”My point was that when people, especially young people are in love, they do things without thinking.”

Kagura had a hard time to find any words. Where was this coming all of a sudden? Did the drama just evoke his supressed thoughts or had something made him think about love recently. She had so much questions in her mind.

Gintoki noticed something in Kagura's eyes. He read it as pity.

Before Kagura could voice her thoughts, Gintoki beat her to it. ”Enough of this, I'm not bothered by it anymore and neither should you.”

Easy for you to say, Kagura thought, but she tried her best to honor Gintoki's wishes.

”Now get off my bed, I'm tired!” Gintoki said and began to adjust his legs on the couch.

Kagura jumped softly off the couch before she was kicked off it. ”Maybe I'll pitch your story to some drama director,” she snickered tongue in cheek.

”As long as I get the royalties.”

Kagura shook her head and made her way to her room.

”Good night Kagura,” she heard him say before drifting to sleep.

”Good night.”

A/N:

*maknae: Korean term used by older people to refer the youngest in a group. It can among friends or a band.  
*aegyo: Korean word that refers to the act of people employing a sickeningly cutesy behaviour. Usually done by girls to appear cute and attractive, but is commonly used by idols in k-pop scene (it's funny how some male idols seemingly hate to do it : D, poor guys)  
*oppa: Korean term used by female to a male older than her. Can be used to refer a male friend, older brother, or even in a flirtatious way.  
*sukonbu: Japanese seaweed snack, it's Kagura's favourite snack in Gintama


	8. Chapter 8

Then came the night that would turn everything upside down.

It all happened so quickly. Kagura was sitting on her bed, listening to all the fuss happening in the living room. She heard Otae, Gintoki, Shinpachi and Bansai. Maybe even Tsukki. The girl had lost count on who had come by.

It was 6 am. The Sun had barely peeked from the horizon to greet the morning after a stormy night. For Kagura it didn't matter was it day or night, in her head time was sort of frozen.

”Gura...?” Otsu called from the door.

Kagura lifted her eyes to meet with the dark brown ones. ”Otsu-ya, you got the call too?”

”Yeah...do you mind if I come in?”

”It's okay.” 

Kagura and Otsu hadn't talked about the incident outside of the restaurant, but such a tiny thing didn't matter anymore – not that Kagura was ever really that angry to any of the girls. Maybe just hurt and caught of guard, she had concluded to herself.

Otsu sat next to Kagura and they settled for silence. Words were sort of meaningless at that moment.

Otae came to Kagura's room not far behind Otsu. 

”Girls, Soyeon and Yunah are finally here,” she informed with the softest voice imaginable. ”Sakata-nim wants to talk to everyone together.”

Two pairs of uncertain eyes focused on Otae. She could've as easily said that there's an alien invasion happening, both girls would have still given her the same look.

Otae felt her brows frowning a bit when she looked at Kagura and Otsu. Otae knew she had to be the stronger older sister everyone needed. So she pushed through the heavy worries with a smile.

”Come on, Sakata-nim is waiting.”

”Okay,” Otsu managed to answer.

Otae left the room and the two quiet girls followed right after her.

As Kagura stepped out of her room, she saw all of her fellow idols and staff in their tiny apartment. And Gintoki. He was pacing around the kitchen with a familiar look on his face - a look Kagura had seen for the first time that same night.

*Couple of hours earlier*

Kagura was sound to sleep, burrowed under her blanket. Not even the raging thunderstorm bothered her sleep. Suddenly, to her great irritation, someone was shaking her awake.

”Hey, Kagura! Wake-up!”

”Mmmmmmmhhhhhh......gghhhhhh.....”

”Kagura!”

”Mmmm....go away...”

”Kagura, I need you to wake up right now.”

Something in Gintoki's voice made Kagura open one eye. The older man was anything but his mellow usual self.

The sight made Kagura sit up on her bed.

”What's wrong A-Gin? Did you sent a dumb message to Tsukki or something?”

”What? No!” His answer wasn't playful as it usually was. Something was seriously wrong, she figured.

”What is it then?” Kagura asked and rubbed her eyes.

Gintoki sat next to Kagura and took a couple of deep breaths. ”Uh, I don't know how to tell you this Kagura...I don't really know how to tell anyone about this...”

Kagura frowned her strawberry brows. ”Stop it A-Gin, you're making me nervous.”

Gintoki crossed his fingers and began. ”There's been an accident.”

”What kind of accident? Did someone get hurt?”

”No...luckily not.”

”Then tell me,” Kagura demanded, eyes fully awake, brain still trying to catch up.

”There's been a fire.”

Kagura's eyes focused. ”Where?”

”At the YE building.”

Kagura lunged herself up from the bed. ”Well let's get down there and throw some water buckets or something, yes?” She wasn't joking, it was the next logical thing her brain told her to do.

Gintoki swallowed. ”Kagura.”

”What?” She huffed as she was pulling warm slacks over her pajamas.

”Just stop and listen to me.”

And she did, eyes glued to the silver-haired man.

”The fire department called me a minute ago. They told me about the possible damages.”

”And?” Kagura asked.

He paused shortly. ”The people there are doing everything they can, but there probably won't be nothing but piles of ash and rubble.”

”...” 

A spark of lightning struck outside, illuminating the entire room for a second. A loud rumble followed shortly after the light.

A shiver went down on Kagura's spine - slender hands feeling sticky from sweat.

Nothing but ash.

She had a hard time understanding what was coming out of Gintoki's mouth.

”The whole building was old and wooden as you know, and it's been on fire for hours,” Gintoki explained.

”But...why?” Kagura asked, voice cracking from her disbelief.

Gintoki didn't have the answers Kagura demanded. No-one did.

He shook his head slowly and got up from Kagura's bed. ”I understand if you want to stay here, but I'm going to the site and-”

”No. I'm coming too,” Kagura insisted, voice adamant and fearless.

”Okay, get dressed then,” Gintoki said. ”I'll go and knock on Otae and Shinpachi's door. Maybe they know where to start with...with everything,” he continued with a heavy sigh.

In 10 minutes the group was ready to leave. The car ride was filled with silence and the tires rolling against the road.

Kagura looked out of the car window. The thunderstorm had moved further away from the city. All she saw was the midnight blue sky mixed with dark clouds. Then a huge black smoke trail became visible in between the many sky-scrapers, Kagura felt her heart beating faster.

In matter of minutes, they saw up-close the pack of fire-trucks and the huge flames spitting towards the night sky.

Otae gasped as quietly as possible, clasping her hands over her mouth. Kagura's mouth tightened shut.

Gintoki pulled over, but no-one exited the car. It felt pointless.

Otae and Shinpachi shared a look to seek comfort. Kagura wanted the same, so she looked at her foster-father.

Gintoki was rubbing his fore-head slowly. His expression was speaking louder than words. This image of him burned into her eyes to remember forever. It was heart-wrenching.

No-one knew how to begin, what to say, what to do?

The dream all of them had worked for years was literally burning in front of their eyes. Every bit of it disappearing into the electric air.

”I'm going to look for the fire-chief,” Gintoki said and got out from the car. He left nothing between his words and slamming the car door shut. No-one was blaming him for being distant.

Kagura turned to look at Otae and Shinpachi.

”Kagura?” Shinpachi asked.

”Mmh,” she whimpered.

”Are you okay?” Otae continued.

”Ah...I'm just scared,” Kagura said, voice shaky and fragile. ”I-I don't know what to do.”

”We'll figure something out, don't worry,” Otae reassured. Kagura thought it was amazing how Otae could always be so incredibly reliable.

Gintoki came back to the car surprisingly quickly.

”Well? What did they tell you?” Shinpachi didn't waste any time asking.

”That they'll inform me when the fire is finally out, but...”

”But?”

Gintoki scratched the back of his neck and twisted the corner of his mouth. ”I don't think there's much to tell us, just like they predicted.”

Gintoki's words were chilling but honest.

”A-Gin...” Kagura said. His deep maroon eyes turned to her for a short moment as to say that there's nothing she had to say to him.

”I'll contact the insurance company,” Shinpachi said and straightened his glasses. Somewhere in his coat he had his precious laptop with him.

As Shinpachi got straight into work, Otae followed up. ”I'll call everyone at the company and ask them to come to your house as soon as possible.”

Gintoki was very grateful, as was Kagura, but the flames still took most of her attention. It was like ”hello there my dream job, burning up so nice and crispy,” Kagura thought to herself.

”That sounds like the smartest thing to do now,” Gintoki said and turned his focus on driving back to their apartment.

What would happen to them now? Kagura thought and leaned her cheek against the cold window.

*Back to current time*

Kagura and Otsu sat down on the couch, right next to Ruby and Minty. The tv was on and every single big news channel was running the same story. The accident – their accident.

Gintoki watched from their little kitchen as the news captured all the attention in the room. It gave him a bit more time to prepare his head for what was to come.

Kagura glanced at Soyeon who was leaning against a wall next to the couch. Her robust persona was hidden somewhere very deep. She held her arms tightly around her chest, mouth appearing to be just one straight line.

Kagura related to the feeling she saw, not just from Soyeon, but everyone around them.

Gintoki made his way to the living room, nervously rubbing his hands together. He cleared out his throat to catch some attention. Otae was the first to notice their boss and lowered the tv's volume to help him.

”First of all sorry for waking up everyone so early,” Gintoki began and his voice drew all the eyes and ears to him.

”As you all know, there's been an accident - a huge fire at the YE's building. Before anyone can get their conspiracy theories going, the fire chief suspected that a lightning bolt caused the fire.”

”The fire-chief also confirmed what I already expected,” Gintoki paused for a second. ”Unfortunately, everything was lost.”

Kagura watched as many of her label mates covered their mouths with a hand or two. Some gasped from shock, especially Zura.

”Luckily we keep back-up files of songs and such, so absolutely everything wasn't lost,” Shinpachi said to shine light to the pile of crap the situation was.

Kagura thought about her song drabbles left in the recording studio. She sure didn't have a back-up of those. Just in her head, somewhere there.

”I am so sorry about this and I hate every bit of what I have to say next,” Gintoki said as his eyes wandered over the people looking at him. The group of people he had personally picked up to work for him.

”The company has insurance, but that could take years...so,” Gintoki paused again. ”From here on now, I'm releasing you all from your binding contracts.”

Kagura's mouth gaped open. She hadn't even thought of that possibility and it felt horrible to hear out loud.

”I can't offer you any work for now, but I hope you can continue your careers under some other label. I don't want you to give up or forget this short period of time we were a...uh...a family.”

Gintoki spoke his words with a bitter-sweet smile on his face.

”I'm sorry too Sakata-nim,” Tsukki said, ”All of this is just unbelievable.”

Members of Sugar Addicts were very shocked by the news and comforted each other. Kagura sat in the middle of them, looking directly at Gintoki. He hadn't said a word about his decision to her. His decision was trash, that's what she thought.

”This is stupid,” Kagura said, quietly, but loud enough for someone to hear.

”What did you say Kagura?” Otae asked, only half-sure of what she heard.

Kagura turned Otae with conviction in her eyes. ”I think this is stupid,” she said with a clearer voice and turned her eyes back to Gintoki – who was already looking back at her.

”There's no time to be childish Kagura, this is my decision,” Gintoki said, strictly.

”I think you are just throwing in the towel too soon,” Kagura said. ”I believe we can overcome this together.”

Kagura's words were powerful, full of hope and passion. Unfortunately, her idea was more from a fairy tale than real life.

Gintoki exhaled. ”If there was a chance, I would take it to keep this company together – but there aren't any options left. You all need to understand that.”

Kagura felt the urge to talk back, but she bit her cheek. Maybe Gintoki was right for once – just this once.

”Maybe someday, we can all work together again,” Otae said to brighten the mood.

”I hope so too,” Tsukki agreed and so did the other employees of YE.

Kagura didn't understand how easy it was for everyone to just accept Gintoki's decision. It would take much more work for her to move on from this.

I guess I have no choice, Kagura thought.

*  
*

Gintoki slumped into their couch next to Kagura. The only ones left were Otae, Shinpachi, Kagura and Gintoki himself.

Kagura wasn't very talkative after Gintoki's big announcement and he wasn't in the mood to handle her crankiness.

”I still can't believe this,” Shinpachi said as he was scavenging more news from the accident.

”Ne, Otae,” Gintoki called. ”I think I can pay you two for a month or so.”

”Gintoki.”

”Mmh?”

”Just use all that you have to get by,” Otae said. ”Me and Shin-chan can get new jobs rather easy.”

”Right...do you mean your old jobs at the-”

Kagura sat and listened. Or rather she just sat and let all the words pass by her brain.

No-one didn't even pay attention when Kagura excused herself and went to the kitchen. She grabbed a pack of sukonbus from a top cabinet and a class of water.

Although Kagura's ears weren't listening to particularly anything, a familiar noise somehow made it into her hearing.

It was Gintoki's phone.

Kagura glanced at the screen. A call was coming from a sealed number.

She frowned at the device and swapped her glass to the phone. Maybe it was the fire chief again, she thought.

Gintoki felt a tap on his shoulder, then he recognized the all too familiar noise. ”A-Gin, it's the devils spawn,” Kagura announced with a bored voice.

He turned to unwillingly take the phone. ”Who could it be this time?”

”I dunno, it was a sealed number.”

”A sealed number?” Gintoki repeated.

”Mmh,” Kagura hummed and ate a strip of the salty delicacy.

”It could be a prank call,” Gintoki said and was about to press a red icon on the screen.

”It could be the insurance company,” Shinpachi suggested.

”Oh, then I should take it,” Gintoki said and was about to press the green icon on the screen.

Kagura sat back on the couch, now listening to the conversation.

”No, it can't be them! I just spoke with them 20 minutes ago,” Otae said.

”Then this prank call can go to hell.”

”How do you know it's a prank call A-Gin?” Kagura said.

”...?”

”I mean it could be anything. Maybe you won the lottery or something,” Kagura said shrugged.

”Heh, aren't you funny,” Gintoki said and was about to decline the call. Then again...what if he had won the lottery...

Gintoki grunted and picked up the phone that had rung for surprisingly long already.

”Hello,” the ever professional CEO answered.

”Yes, this is him. Who's asking?”

Kagura watched as Gintoki's facial expression went from 0 to 100. Who an earth was on the other end of the phone?

”Okay...alright, see you at 9 o'clock then. Bye.”

His eyes were wide and confused, but not as much as Kagura's were. ”Who was it?” she asked.

Otae and Shinpachi were equally curious of the mysterious phone call that left their boss dumbfounded.

”Well...you're never going to believe this...” Gintoki began.


End file.
